Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

How did this happen?

This morning I woke up with the same question I asked myself on a morning exactly forty years ago. “How did this happen?” That day, I ate breakfast, put on a wedding dress I didn’t want, got married, and got ready to face the next 40 years.

Today I ate breakfast, put on a great outfit I got on my last trip to India, and got ready to face the next… well, possibly not 40 years. Back then we had to figure out how to cram as many family and friends as possible into the available space—and how to have sex as often as possible despite their presence. Now the Hub and I rattle around an empty house, isolating in place, complete privacy generated by simply turning off Zoom. Back then a single bed and a lumpy pillow was the stuff of true romance. Now our…