On the road again

In San Francisco this week.
Balanced Scorecard North American Summit.
Making me miss Ashley's birthday,
Which I have not done
In eight years of marraige

Feels crummy.

Same time we are making an offer
And counter-counter offer
On a new place in JP.

Room for us
Baby James
Visiting grandparents
Aunts and uncles
And hoped for
Brother or sister.


Arrived in San Fran
1PM Boston time,
Exhausted,
But still up all night,
Imagining this place
And what it would look like
If we made it out home

Alarm off
5:30 AM local time
To call in a happy birthday
To Ashley,
Who hadn't slept either.
James up and up
Teething, I think.
Or maybe just distressed
By daddy's absence.

In the midst of it
Just amazed at the timing.
The same day we got a signed P&S
On our home.
Just as we had
Begun to resign ourselves
To renting again,
A new home,
A new possible home
Appears on the market.



I called Ashley,
Then a long run.
Up and down
San Francisco hills.


And out there running
Sans dog,
Sans jogging stroller
On one of these quasi vacations
Work to do,
But still fancy hotel,
Expensed meals -
Salmon Benedict breakfast,
Wine a-flowing
Striped bass dinner,
And more to come...

I ran across
This spectacular town
Up hills and down
Into Presidio Park
Then across,
And up
Up up
Lambard St.,
And back to this hilltop hotel.

Found myself remembering
One of the first of these "business" trips,
To Miami last March.

That time,
James got sick.
Ashley too.
Neither slept.

I called a sleep-deprived,
Delirioius Ashley,
While I was partway through
An evening out with colleagues.

Cab out to Miami beach,
And a high time
That started at Opa,
Complete with Ouzo,
Lobster,
Lamb,
And belly dancers.

Only days after a sermon
Inspired by Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance,"
When the belly dancer
Came down our table,
Looking for recruits,
I thought,
Do I want to be
That lame guy,
Who says, "No, no."
And shows the tact,
Decorum
Appropriate to an
Outing with colleagues?

Or carpe diem
And dance?

I danced.

En route to
Mango's,
For more live music
More dancing--
On the dance floor
While beautiful patrons
Danced atop the bar
And drinks flowed in plastic cups,
I called home.

"You what?"
Asked Ashley,
"Lobster?"

She was only beginning
What was sure to be a
Night not going well.

"Have you been drinking?"

"I'm having fun,"
I said.

"Good,"
She said.

Bringing home the bacon.

Months later,
This time,
I am in the tower
Of the Fairmont Hotel,
Looking out over
This city by the bay,
Alcatraz
And the Golden Gate Bridge.

Surely this is
Not fair.

And anyway,
Hands down,
I would rather be home,
Waking when James wakes,
Stumbling through the dark,
Scrounging for
And raplacing his paci.
And crawling back
In bed beside Ashley
Who now,
In role reversal,
Sleeps through
My midnight check-ins
With baby James.