Matt and Lily
26 October 2005

We’re still going back in time, but not as far.
This is a picture of Matt and Lily
from October two years ago (Lily is ten-months-old
in this picture). We still had the Jeep at that time,
and it was a real b*tch to put the top on and off
the Jeep. So we would often just leave it on or off.
Even during a cold snap, we would just leave the top
off if it was already off. So Matt would have to
bundle up like this to drive to work. (He is wearing
the Jay “Snoogans” cap that Gene gave me
when we were toying with the idea of dressing
as Jay and Silent Bob for Halloween.)

Matt and I are usually, what I call, “on.”  We are synched up with each other and the day runs smoothly.  It’s like the final scene of Shrek 3 where Fiona and Shrek are taking care of the kids together, effortlessly tossing bottles to one another, smiling.  That is what we are like when we are synched up.  Our day is an unrehearsed yet coordinated ballet of housework, childcare, cooking, and recreation.

But then we get out of synch.  We’ll be “off.”  This is very annoying when you are used to being in synch with your partner.  I never know how long we will be off — sometimes an hour, sometimes a day.  It is almost always precipitated by an argument or one of us being in a foul mood.

But I recently discovered a way to get back into synch.  We stop whatever child-centered family activity we are doing and hold each other.  It takes about five minutes of hugging, perhaps a little talking and smooching, and then we are synched up again.  We’ve only tried this technique twice, but it has worked both times.  It’ll be interesting to see if it has 100% success rate.

Matt and I were “off” this morning, but he had to rush off to work.  If we’re still “off” after he is done for the day, we’ll have to snuggle back “on.” 🙂