Work Text:
I thought about you tonight John as I drank jasmine scented green tea. As I poured boiling water over the tea bag and watched the leaves open up, I thought of how you've opened me up. To feelings, to sex, to this ... us.
I pictured you in the clinic. Dealing with smelly old men and overweight mothers with their high blood pressure and diabetes. The patience you have John. I don't know how you do it, but I watch in awe.
In my world it's simply a failure on their part to take control of their own transport. A matter of personal responsibility, or failure thereof.
But in yours it's a wider picture. You empathise with their tricky social situations. The old man's isolation - never seeing family members from one week (month) to the next. No help with shopping or laundry, nor any incentive to get into clean clothes. The mother's inability to parent her own children, never saying no to the demands for junk food, and comforting herself on the sweets she concedes to buy for her children, their reward for prolonged and persistent use of pester power.
I see you gather yourself together over a cup of builders brew. Strong. Stoic. And yet wonderfully reassuring.
And I look forward to later this evening when you return home to me John, and allow me to find my peace with you over tea.