Mr. Spock

I was driving to join my wife and kids this past weekend and the book on tape that I was listening to ended (The Way of the Weasel by Scott Adams a hilarious and insightful book to be expected from Mr. Adams I laughed out loud several times through it.). I didn't have enough time to go through another book on tape so I put on some music to get me through the rest of the trip. I started contemplating on some of what I heard on the book. I started thinking about my wife and kids who I'd be seeing shortly and I was picturing myself holding each of them individually and what it would feel like to touch them again. For some reason my thoughts wandered to Mr. Spock who often says that "Emotions are illogical." I've always had this beef with Mr. Spock. Your logic is only as good as the assumptions you base them on. If you assume that there is no point to emotions, then yes, emotions are illogical. But there is a logical basis for emotions. Emotions drive us to act or not act. There are distinct survival advantages to emotions and if you accept that as given then emotions are logical. If you limit your logic to not properly account for proper framework in which something you wish to analyze lies, then it's not the thing you are analyzing that's illogical, but your logic that is faulty.

 

I was going through this line of reasoning when I realized that emotional jumble that my mind has been these past few weeks had fallen away. I have not reasoned in such a systematic and logical way since at least the time they left. It startled me to realise that. I knew I was lonely and that I missed them and I suspected that their absense was affecting my work, but I didn't expect that their absence was affecting my ability to reason! When I finally got in and held my wife for the first time in weeks it was like... umm... huh... I don't remember.... like home I think. The kids were asleep (it was past 11pm at this point). I went in to check on them and my son stirred - his eyes were half open. At some later point when my wife and I went to bed I stepped away for a drink of water and my wife called me back because my son was calling for me and asking where "Daaee" was. I could have hugged him forever at that point. When my daughter woke up the next day she recognized me and beamed! She's always been a morning person. She still preferred me to her grandfather who'd been around for the last couple of weeks.

 

We're back home now and it's soooo good to not be alone anymore. My wife made her delicious cappuccino this morning. Hmm. Our bed is soooo much more comfortable with another body in it.

 

If my introspection was solely because of my loneliness than I don't know what the near future will bring. I think there's more to it than that, but certainly the lonliness heightened the introspection. We'll see.