Home Alone

It’s late Sunday night and I am sitting at home doing some mails on my laptop. Nothing unusual, except for the fact that I am the only one at home. I just realized that that hasn’t happened since Scott was born in late 2007! I love it, there is nobody to disturb me while working and I can do whatever I want without disturbing others. I am streaming Spotify to the stereo for example, without the risk of waking up sleeping ayis or kids.

But it also has a downside. Because there is always staff at home to help me with everything I can’t find anything right now. I just never use any household appliance in this house. A couple of hours ago I boiled some eggs, but it took me 5 minutes to just find the egg cooker. After I made a small meal (yes, I can still cook a bit despite not having done it for years) I decided to put the plates in the dishwasher. Then I realized I have no clue how the thing works (I could look that up online) nor where the detergent powder is (that information is not online). I ended up doing the dishes by hand.

Another thing that’s starting to worry me is that I have no idea how to take care of our goldfish. Scott won this fish a couple of months ago, and since then it has become a new family member (the kids like it a lot). But I have no idea where the fish food is or even when and how to clean the fish bowl. I can look all of that up online, and I will do so, but the fact remains that I suddenly realize how dependent I have become on the staff.

Having people do everything for you is a luxury and I am very happy with that. It allows me to fully focus on my work and on spending more quality time with my family, but it’s not a good thing that I am so dependent on the staff (and on my wife, she basically runs the household and the staff). I am not particularly proud of it, and I am going to use the next couple of days to make sure I don’t need the staff anymore (but I will still keep them of course!). It just can’t be that I don’t even know where the light switch is for the front porch, or that I had actually never been in our laundry room.

So it’s good to be alone for a few days, even if just to learn to live on my own again. In my early career while living in Germany I did everything by myself (cooking, washing clothes, cleaning the house, groceries), and now I don’t even know how most of our appliances work. Maybe I should send my wife and kids on holiday more often!