My husband and I have gotten into the worst habit. Is it time we changed?
Every night after dinner my husband and I go into different rooms and watch our favourite TV shows. He tunes in to Man vs. Wild, Crime Investigation Australia and Air Crash Investigations. I watch Nurse Jackie, Mad Men, The Good Wife and Offspring.
We hate each other’s shows with a passion. All attempts to merge TV viewing have failed miserably.
It took a decade of marriage for us to finally give up on watching TV together for good. We gave it a good go. Each night we’d brightly discuss which show we’d like to watch that night. Sometimes he’d give in to me, sometimes I’d give in to him. On the nights he’d give in to me he would last about five minutes before falling asleep. On the nights I’d give in to him I’d lie awake at night imagining all the ways my children could be killed: by animals, by serial killers and by aeroplanes.
So we bought ourselves a brand new HD TV. It was a last ditch effort to consummate our TV viewership. It's a stunning TV. I can see every flaw on Asher Keddie's face. Still, the squabbling continued. I tried watching his shows again, I really did. I had my favourite TV viewing snack - coloured popcorn - and still didn't last. I fed him banana lollies, he still didn't last.
Now every night after dinner we clean up and part ways. It's not as bad as it sounds. Sometimes we visit each other during commercials. He makes fun of whatever is happening on my show and I avert my eyes while visiting him.
But every night I feel like we're doing something wrong, because we basically spend every night apart. Should we just ignore our favourite shows and choose something totally different instead? Or is what we are doing okay?
We could watch a movie together on Friday or Saturday nights... if we could agree on a movie.
Do you think it's okay for a couple to spend the whole evening apart? Are we risking distance growing between us?
