A Quick Visit From Daddy

I remember last summer when Kevin was gone tuna fishing, Ben asked me, "Can Solomon come visit?" I told him not today and he replied with, "Then can Daddy come visit?" Sad as it is, during the busiest parts of the fishing seasons, it really is like Kevin doesn't live here and instead just comes for an occasional visit. Last night we got one such visit.

I posted yesterday that Kevin had told me he was probably coming home for part of a day and night after being gone for just over a week. We anxiously awaited his arrival which kept getting postponed due to complications with the crab delivery (selling their load of crab) and a boat repair, until he finally walked in the door at 7:30pm. His birthday dinner was waiting (his birthday had been a few days previous) and the kids excitedly visited with him as we ate and then helped him open a couple presents. Then Kevin took a much-needed shower while I cleaned up dinner. Next, Abby and I whipped up some frosting for Kevin's birthday cake, while Kevin spent a little play time with the boys in the living room.

We finished the cake and went to get everyone, only to find Kevin asleep on the couch and Benny "reading" a book to himself (upside down :).

The poor man is exhausted, having only had 2 hours of sleep the night before and only 3-4 hours most of the other nights. Unlike tuna fishing where they fish only bite during daylight hours, they can fish for crab through the night with the aid of spotlights. And also, unlike most other fisheries, about 80% of the season's catch is caught in the first 2-3 weeks. Basically, it's a race to get through your pots as many times as possible before the crab start petering out. But anyway, back to our "visit"...well, that was actually it. About an hour and half after arriving home, Kevin headed to bed, too tired to even glance at his cake let alone eat it, but excited to sleep in a comfortable bed that wasn't rolling with the waves.

As I was getting the kids ready for bed, I realized that is was suddenly quiet as I changed Jake's diaper. I had my suspicions and headed down the hallway with my camera knowing what I'd probably find:

Yep, these little buggers couldn't stay away from their daddy. Abby begged to sleep with him, bursting into tears when she heard that daddy would be gone long before she awoke in the morning. While I'm fairly used to Kevin being gone off and on after 10 years of marriage, the kids always have a more difficult time with it. And so these visits from daddy are bittersweet - we love seeing him, but we hate seeing him go so soon again.

Until the next visit, we live for the occasional text message, the rare phone call and the even rarer picture sent like this one: