December 4, 2023

My dearest,

Isn’t it strange how most couples will sit opposite each other at tables? They say it’s so that they can talk eye to eye. That it’s more romantic that way.

We do that too, of course, when it’s a two-seater table. But whenever we get a larger table, when we have more space, when there are comfy cushions on one side versus stiff chairs on the other, we would never sit opposite one another.

It makes more sense to sit side by side, our hips warming left to right. You will peer over my shoulder to look at the menu, even when there is a second one available. It’s easier to make the right choice that way, when we decide together.

Who needs to look
Eye to watchful eye
When it’s understood
You’ve got me shook
When we’re sitting
Side by tender side.

There is poetry – more graceful than the clumsy verses that I pen – to how our elbows would touch, to how we’d tell each other to take the last piece of meat or to finish the leafy greens, to how we’d both prefer not to linger after finishing our meal, not when we can be back home earlier.

Not when we can brush our teeth and shower, change into our pyjamas and read in bed together, always side by side.

Yours, ever and always.