Now I'm alone. I'd love to joke about it, and I probably will tomorrow, but right now the lonliness is sinking in. His parents just left me at our house, after taking us to the airport this morning. I think today is a good day to stay inside alone so nobody can see me. I'll start trying to figure out what to do with myself tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a pictorial representation of our final two days together...

On Friday we re-visted one of the first places I ever dragged Aidan. It's an alley in the city which is full of odd little signs with psuedo-proverbs. I found it shortly before we started dating, and I knew Aidan would find it as fascinating as I did.

We went to see Marilyn Manson on Friday night. It was alright, I had fun, but there was a long gap for costume changing and stuff between songs, no real continuity, and a lot of show-boating. It didn't really have a great vibe. Still, as I said, I did have fun. (Although I think Aidan was fairly disappointed.)

We spent Friday night in a hotel in the city, which made getting "home" an awful lot easier than usual. It was also really nice to have no cooking or cleaning or anything at all to worry about. We just wanted to chill out and relax, since it was to be our second-last night together.

Saturday morning we went to see Stardust, which is based on the book by Neil Gaiman. It was quite different from the book, but I thought it was extremely well done and a highly enjoyable movie. I might buy it on DVD when it comes out - it's very much a feel-good, cheer-up sort of movie. The sort of thing I'll need for a little while.

We then scoured the city for an M&M biscuit and some tea (coffee for Aidan, of course)... it only took us about an hour to get to the one place we knew for certain would have exactly what we wanted.

Then it was time to go home and pack his suitcase, snuggle for a while, and watch X-Files. We ordered in pizza for dinner, and drank guiness. Aidan very thoughtfully didn't want to leave me too many dishes to wash today, and pizza acheived that intention very nicely.

And then our alarms awoke us at the ungodly time of 5.15 am so we could get ready to go... Aidan's parents arrived at 6.30 to take us to the airport, and so off he went... yes, that's him on the right, waving very half-heartedly. I cried, even though I'd promised I wouldn't. I didn't even get up to hug him goodbye, because I knew I would only get his suit all wet and salty. Besides, we'd said our proper goodbyes last night. He called me to say he'd touched down safely, before I even got home! It's not a long flight. I was glad to hear he's doing ok already, and has made a friend.

Now what? A good book, I think, perhaps some wine, and a simple dinner. We've stocked up on food which can be stored long-term, so I've got loads of pasta and stuff - I won't even need to leave the house. No doubt I'll cry some more, but I will do my utmost not to wallow in self-pity. I will need my friends - and by that word I am including all of you reading this - because although misery loves company, company dispells misery. Cross your fingers for us, and hope that I get the chance to see my husband at least once or twice before Christmas!