history: My wife is out of the country on a business trip. Now it's way too quiet around here, it's driving me crazy. My wife is going away on a business trip soon.... she'll be gone for a couple of weeks. That'll be tough.  Do you have anything you can do to keep busy?
current: Well, I might do some work on the house. But it's going to be awfully quiet around here.
next: I bet.  It's sometimes surprising how much your life revolves around the other person being in the house.