Schroedinger's Cat

Dear John,

 

Standard Time. I love it. The clock and the sun have a reasonable correlation. My internal clock is happy. The world will be right-side-up for a few months.

 

And I have good news: Jen found a place of her own. It's here in Topeka, and it's the top floor of a house. It has three bedrooms and a bath-and-a-half, and is huge and gorgeous. It's an older house, and other than turning a bedroom into a kitchen, it hasn't been re-muddled. It has beautiful original woodwork and new windows, and the rent is not bad at all. So she and Elyssa will be moving after Thanksgiving.

 

I'm starting to go through our stuff for things to get her started. All the furniture in their rooms is theirs, and the sofa and coffee table in the basement. I have some extra bookcases, plenty of lamps and tables, and lots of towels and kitchen things. I also told her she could have the grill - you were always the one that cooked out, and so does Jen; I know I won't do it without you. I'm sure I'll find lots of things for her between now and Thanksgiving.

 

Being her sweet self, she was worried about moving out before I get another job. But I think that's really best. I have things I'll need to do around the house after they're gone that I'd much rather get done before I start a new job. I need to paint Elyssa's bedroom and mine, and there will be a lot of furniture-hauling again.

 

I hear you laughing. I know - imagine: me painting and hauling furniture around. At least it's an inexpensive hobby. So laugh away!

 

You were always so much help when I was painting. We had our routine down, didn't we? Before you left in the morning, you'd help me move all the furniture into the middle of the room. I'd paint all day. Then you'd bring dinner home and help me put all the furniture back. I appreciated that so much! And I appreciated you letting me use colors you weren't always sure of. You liked every one of them after it was on the wall; you just had trouble picturing it. And if you hadn't liked one, I would have gladly re-painted the room. Our taste was so similar that it was easy to decorate for you.

 

Every part of living with you was easy. People warned us to expect a difficult adjustment period, since you were the youngest and I was an only child. We waited. And we waited. And I'm still waiting. There never was an adjustment period. You were always so easy and comfortable to be with. And since we married right out of college, neither of us had habits or patterns of living alone. We fit together.

 

And that makes it hard to be without you. But I'm doing okay because, like I said last night, I'm never really without you. You're here and not here at the same time. Like Schroedinger's cat. Laugh at me again, but you know what I mean!

 

I could chatter at you all night, but it's way past my bedtime and Jethro is snoring on the foot of the bed, so I'd better stop here. I love talking to you and sometimes it's hard to stop. Sleep well tonight! Love you always,

Joan.