once upon a time…

… there was a man born in the country.  A man who when he was young married a woman,  a young woman who like him drifted around the edges of groups, a little timid,  tentative and eccentric. They met as students and emboldened by the radical spirit of the times,  of embracing all that was new,  exciting, and subversive,  they slipped out from under the weight of the expectations of their families, and these two became one. Now this man,  he was an artist who over the years became well  known and successful. His art was his life, his passion, his expression. But all this time there was something happening in his home that was diminishing his spirit. A gradual undoing of hearts,  a slow but steady separation of steps even amidst births, work,  holidays and deaths. How did this happen?  he often wondered  as he lived through these grim times of sharing life with a stranger.