It was a late life love story. Two wonderful people were now alone and then … bam … their paths crossed, their eyes caught each other, and again … bam … two lives began to share their love, their name, and their journey – together.
Soon after their nuptials, they started building their apartment to fit the new couple culture. The bed got bigger, the kitchen table would hold two place settings, and a pair of towels hung next to the shower. Then on a trip to the furniture store, they bought a brand new, super comfortable, sturdily crafted reclining love seat/couch.
It was great … for a season. But a dilemma arose. Like many adults who would sit down to watch tv or read, they soon would fall asleep. And this got awkward quick. You see, they were too polite. Yes, you read that right – too polite.
They couldn’t sync their schedule. One would want to get up (for the reasons we all get up, or whatever), but the other one would have fallen asleep. So the awake person would sit there, reclined, waiting for the other one to wake up. Then they would fall asleep. At which time the first sleeper would wake up and want to get up. But their mate would be asleep now. So they would politely sit there waiting. And naturally, they would fall back to sleep as well. At which time the second sleeper would wake up.
And round and round it went.
The small couch just didn’t work. The couch did not fulfill its designed purpose. The word ‘couch’ comes Latin for place (locare) + together (com). The couch placed them together but they just couldn’t work the couch out.
Two things happened … first, they quickly went back out and bought matching recliner chairs … individual chairs they would place side by side. And second, I inherited a near new, sat only on by a grandmother who watched church services on it, love seat couch.
It seems more and more things are dividing us today. And though disagreeing and not always seeing eye to eye is normal … disharmony and dissension can be unhealthy for individuals and communities. Maybe we need to be more like, this couple … realIzing they don’t sync on everything, but quickly finding a cure that would allow them to stay close to each other while still keeping their individuality.
In truth, we will never really agree with everybody on everything. If everybody was like me, God help us all. But let’s pursue things that draw us closer together rather than drive us apart.
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Post Script … my lovely and I don’t use it together either. She pulls her legs up, spreads her journals out, and takes the whole love seat couch. She uses it to come together with her books – not me. Oh well, another story.
Muddy Shoes by Todd 
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