Donna and Derek had been married for fourteen years. The last seven years had been “more for the sake of the children”. Their love had frittered out – no great arguments. They agreed on most things, especially when it came to what was best for the children. They both worked. They both shared the household chores. It was just that their conversation had deteriorated into questions:
How was your day? Why?
Did you phone Vanessa? Who?
Are you going into town? What?
Have you seen the car keys? Where?
Are you coming to the school concert? When?
There was no longer a meeting of minds.
One day, Donna got pneumonia and was taken in an ambulance to hospital. She was dying. Derek didn’t know what to do. Don’t let her die! Don’t let her die!
Derek looked after Donna at home. She recovered. They talked a lot. They laughed. Derek bought an old BBQ and they would sit outside on the long summer evenings and feed the kids and themselves. And they would sing along to an old Louis Armstrong DVD they had.
They worked hard at their marriage and it worked.
It doesn’t always work, but it did for them. It doesn’t make for much of a story, but good on them. Jolly good, eh? Pretty good, huh? Cheers.