I sent an email to Peter while waiting in an airport on Tuesday. It is not that unusual for me to be away for a couple of nights on business, but we do miss each other on those occasions.

However, there are some plusses for Peter when I am away.

• He gets whatever section of the paper he wants at breakfast
• He can turn the TV volume up very high
• He can leave on every light in the house all night long
• He has our computer all to himself

   

Most important, he can eat things I don't allow in the house. For example hot dogs, sausages or anything else with nitrites. Or all the things that are not gluten-free that I can't eat. While I would grab a couple of eggs in his absence, and eat whenever I felt like it, he will prepare a full meal and he will eat it precisely at 6:30 with the news.

All that is fine with me. But I do worry that my absent-minded ex-professor husband will forget to turn off the gas burners on the stove. Therefore my most important task when I am away is to write him an email. The last line is always the same.

"Don't forget to turn off the stove."