The Homecoming of Daddy!

Will has had a LOT of travelling in recent months, more than ever before.  Of course each time we drop him off at the airport is eventually followed somewhere between 7 and 14 days later by picking him up!  Which is the fun part.

We have the whole Daddy-is-home today routine down.  We always pick him up from the airport even when it means setting the alarm clock for 5.30am *shudder*.  Things tend to unfold the same way each time and I've been meaning to try and photo-document it for yonks but somehow slipping behind the lens of my camera at these times feels harder than normal.  We just want to revel in Will being home!

On Monday Will returned from his latest trip (Sulawesi, Indonesia).  This was a particularly special one though as its his final big (as in a week or more in length) trip away now for a looooong time.  He'll still have to duck away for the odd overnight trip and there's the possibility of one or two 3 to 4 day trips between now and baby number 3 arriving, but by and large there's nothing scheduled and no big coffee events on the calendar that involve Will leaving the country for some months now.  Yay!!


As soon as we get in the door Will unpacks his bag for show and tell.  We take a quick look at his photos.  Later when the kids are in bed we take a proper look and its always, always interesting to me.  (In Sulawesi he was able to photograph a traditional funeral procession including the slaughtering of bulls and seeing the preserved deceased - usually dead for several years before the funeral - adorned in sun glasses with a cigarette in his or her mouth.  I'm not kidding.  I really mean it when I say interesting!)

The children become acquainted with any figurines or artefacts given to him by the local coffee farmers or bought by Will to either adorn our home or one of our espresso bars or the office.  There's often a t. shirt or cupping spoon or coffee mug inscribed with the logo of whichever Cup Of Excellence Will has been a judge at.  Foreign money and anything with foreign text on it usually captures the boys attention too.  They have a collection of foreign coins and notes which is growing at a rate with all the exotic travel daddy has been doing.

Will then enjoys a long shower (often he is so far off the beaten track beyond the land of flushing toilets and running hot water so that first shower is divine every time!) and we head out for...well of course, for coffee!

 (nobody wants to hold mummies hand when they haven't held daddy's for so long)

Will being the passionate madman that he is jumps straight into telling our staff about his latest adventure.   No matter how jet lagged he is, he will without fail drop by the warehouse and office to check in and see what he missed.  And the afternoons are nearly always spent with him in the kitchen preparing something delicious.  The food can be rather hit and miss when you're off on coffee adventures and for a food lover, being back in his own kitchen is where its at.  After solo parenting I love that he loves to cook so much.

Over the next couple of days the children share with dad the things he missed (this time it was Dexter's first sleepover guest, watching a performance by an Aboriginal musician and a visit from nanny); as do I.  Last week while he slept on a wooden slat bed (no mattress!) in the village chiefs' hut high up in the mountains beyond the reaches of Wi-Fi or even radio news broadcasts in english Will completely missed this awesome event and he made my heart sing when he sat down and watched it in full twice, feeling just as thrilled by it as I was upon watching it.

We miss Will terribly when he is away but we really love it when he gets home.