Parallel lives

We live parallel lives. He goes to work, I go to mine. The occasional mail comes by…it’s either about business or domestic. At 7.30 pm, or 8 or 8.15 our lives stream together for a brief moment over dinner. He’s on the phone, I lay the table. I wait for him to end his conversation. I can hear from his pace, walking up and down between the living room and dining room, that it is important.  Dinner is suppose to be a family affair, but more often than not it consists of two. I send Victoria up to get ready for bed. He comes and says goodnight. I take out the laundry and put another batch in. The laundry room is next to Victoria and every little time saver helps.

After Victoria and Sebastian is asleep I get into bed and continue to work. He goes downstairs to watch TV. Sometime around 11 pm I come downstairs to say hello. Like, “hi, I’m your reclusive wife.The one that sits upstairs. “

He continues to watch TV and sometimes, in a bid to blow off steam puts on Sensation White on his headphones. If everything else in the house is quiet I can hear the beat from upstairs.

I stop working at midnight, and pick up the book that I am reading. This time the history of the Knights Templar. It’s suppose to help me to get to sleep. Sometimes it does, other times not. Around midnight he comes upstairs, carrying two puddings which he consumes rapidly whilst reading a Donald Duck. He turns out his bedside lamp before me. I continue to read another 10-15 minutes, until my heart pace is even, my breathing relaxed. I say Goodnight.