Because I'm gay, we have a change of plans

There's a room between ours and the first of the kids' rooms; that buffer was intentional because we realized sound would carry in this house, and there are some things we don't want the kids to hear, obviously. On paper the room is a den, ideally the room is a home office, but in reality it's where the kids sit when they indulge Kevin when he wants someone to play a board game with him. Last night, while Char and I were sitting on our bedroom floor (I was helping her stretch, which she still needs to do daily, so don't let your brain go to the kinky places) they were in the den playing Scrabble, and without intending to we could hear what they were talking about. And the gist of the conversation went something like this:

Kevin: I'm gonna miss Mom.
Rachel: We'll still have fun.
Kevin: But it would be more fun if Mom was going with us.
Alex: No shit. You know Dad's not going to have as much fun as he thinks he will.
Rachel: Why not?
Alex: Because he's so damned gay for Mom that he'll be mopey.

They had more to discuss, but the end result was realizing that they really don't want to go skiing next week. It's partly because they're worried I'll be miserable the whole time, and partly because they won't have as much fun as they would if their mother was going to be there. And they're probably right, to a point. I'm certainly going to miss Char while she's gone, but I don't think I'll be miserable, and I do agree that we all have a better time no matter what we're doing when she's there. None of them wanted to tell me any of this to avoid hurting my feelings; they like the idea of having time alone with me, but they would prefer we did things close to home. Bowling, a movie, just hanging out.

You know, things where we can actually talk to him.

We wouldn't be doing a whole lot of talking while speeding down the side of a mountain.

So we're changing plans. I didn't tell them I overheard their conversation; instead I asked them if they minded if we delayed the ski trip, because I have a few business related matters to deal with. That's not a lie; I do have some investment matters to attend to and a publisher to contact regarding some potential editing work. Char will be back on Friday, and Kevin's birthday is the following week, and why not make the trip with his birthday in mind?

They're happy with that; Char is happy with that; all I wanted was to spend some time with my kids, and I'll get that no matter where we are. So they'll go to school and skip the dojang and dance classes altogether for a few days, and we're just going to hang out, go bowling, have dinner in places Char normally says no to, and anything else they think they want to do.