Last week, my mom traveled to Alaska on business, where it is currently -10 degrees Fahrenheit.

It was a grave mistake.

My dad is usually the person away on business, but every once in awhile my mom travels. When my mom’s away, my father and I tend to find trouble.

On her first trip away from home, my father decided to switch the dining room and family room furniture.

My mother was perplexed upon her return, to put it mildly.

When I was seven years old, my mom traveled to Hawaii for her company. While she was gone, I convinced my father to bay a trampoline. For two days, we assembled the trampoline in our backyard.

My mother was not pleased.

The next time my mother was away, my dad decided to replace our old box television with a fancy hi definition flat screen.

Mom was angry.  But after enjoying HD football, she decided we could keep it.

In the summer of fifth grade, I longed for water park play. Sadly, Water World was closed. In an effort to cheer me up, my dad spent the week collecting inflatable pools and slip n’ slides.

Mom opened our next water bill and proceeded to have a heart attack.

My father and I have also taken spontaneous day trips to Alcatraz, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Six Flags and even Disneyland, in my mom’s absence.

As she sits through conferences, my father and I seem to whimsically waste our time away. We eat out almost exclusively, owing to my dad’s inability to cook anything but pancakes.

Each time my mother returns after an extended absence from the home, she does so with considerable apprehension.

However, on after her latest travels she was shocked to find my father and I sitting down on a couch obsessively watching Dowton Abbey on Amazon Prime. We stayed up late watching the British drama despite having commitments like school and work the next day. We became enamored with the characters, relating to the stories of the people and scandals. We immediately became attached to the characters Matthew Crawley and Lady Mary Crawley, who were obviously destined to be together but had so many obstacles preventing it.

My mom never expected to be greeted by shouts (at the television) imploring Lady Mary to admit her love for Matthew. Though she saw the wonders of Alaska, we saw the wonders of English drama and we were never coming back.

I miss my mom when she is gone, but these moments with my father have strengthened our bond.  Even when he is gone, now we talk on the phone about our favorite show.