Just not seven days a week.
Did you feel a bit proud when same-sex marriage became law in 2017? All, not just some of the friends and family at our wedding could now have one too. But would they also choose to live together, seven days a week?
My wife is an artist. Which paintings would she need to toss if I moved in to her place, with my dodgy taste? Her walls are full, and I thought Brack was a former Premier. Then her dog tried to kill mine when we made them bond. It was more like the rabid bunch than the Brady Bunch.
Night time is wife time, but I have cars in pieces that need love too, and that’s when I get dirty with them. My wife is hot and curvy in my arms, but a cool crescent spanner in my hand feels nearly as good. Her house smells like essence of sweetheart, the most essential oil of all. Mine smells like transmission fluid, with faint notes of degreaser. The fragrance of home.
I clean my nails, slide on a clean shirt and drive to her house. It’s first date time, every time. My key slips into her door. The bones in her back tingle, like the pins and springs in the lock. The barrel rotates. She tenses. We’re brand new.
Forced by societal protocol or judgement, couples living apart together originated in the aristocracy and homosexual culture. Is the ceaseless din and visual clutter of modern life pushing us to crave more solitude, but with our lover safely stashed in the next apartment, street, suburb or city? LAT is a fast-growing, worldwide trend.
Locked down separately, or locked down together? In the post COVID world, many will be reassessing their relationships. The pandemic will prompt many new couples, particularly middle-aged daters, to think about their options. Our friends, married and living together, said we would be in intimate poverty. Now they’re jealous. Even the most functional partnerships benefit from time apart. Living apart together gives space and time for companionship and passion to flourish.
Dating later in life, or second time around? You already have somewhere to live. Blokes, if you’re like me: a bit fat, a bit slow, a bit old and playing the love game way above your status, she won’t marry you, mate. You need to come up with something clever. You might be well rounded – liking footy and cricket, or, like me, cars and motorbikes, but you should bring more than your fine taste. Offer her your hand, and in the same breath, tell her she doesn’t have to live with you.
That’s what I did.
Now it’s our time. Just not all the time.
Recent Comments