Prague

In a city filled with photo shots I didn't take one.  That's not to say I didn't bump into a few folks as they stopped dead in their tracks to get that perfect, one of a kind, picture. Instead, I left my camera home because I just wanted to enjoy the beautiful, sunny, winter weekend with  total strangers in this magnificent city.

I enjoyed a fun conversation with four British mothers enjoying a weekend away from husband, children and futbol. They were laughing and reading texts from home and joking how little they missed their families.  In fact, they were already planning their next trip. The location will be Chicago.

We began to talk when they mentioned Chicago. I told them I lived near the city they were planning for their next trip. They started to ask questions about this and that, and then suddenly they grew concerned that I was in Europe for three months and with out my wife.

I'm  not sure what prompted their concern. Maybe it was my circumstances: I was sitting comfortably at a cobblestone cafe outside, next to a warming heater, on the Old Town Square, with a blanket over my lap, reading my Kindle as I sipped my Pilsner Urquell and ate my Prague ham and cheese paninni. "All alone. What about your wife and children?"  "Oh, they are fine. Busy. Back home."

Those wives and mothers all free of their family charges for the weekend didn't back off a bit. In fact, after I explained that my wife had enjoyed her sabbatical in the summer time, and I had stayed home with the kids and the dog and the schedules of getting this one here and that one there, all they said to me--and in total agreement was this:. "Oh, but  you must fly her over for some time with you here, alone, and without the kids."

"You betcha" I said.