‘Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success,’ as Henry Ford once said. Long-term relationships are both rewarding and bloody hard work. It’s not just the daily pressures of busy schedules, kids and/or finances, but when you know each other inside out it’s hard to keep surprising each other – who hasn’t fallen into a sex rut? ‘I hear my neighbours having sex every Saturday at 10.30am for 8 minutes,’ my friend Colette told me over a cocktail.
And there are, of course, often communication problems in relationships. ‘But I thought it was true love (does that even exist?),’ Isy said, concerned when she learnt that my relationship had come to an end. She asked for more details. ‘There’s nothing worse than feeling invisible to your partner and something I know my hubby and I play at a lot,’ she empathised. ‘Relationships are honestly the hardest thing in life – sometimes I want to scream and run for the hills (kids make it less easy).’ And I thought her marriage was perfect. (It’s not, but it’s solid.)
Now that I’m single, married friends want to know every detail of my life. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that you went out for whisky tasting with Power Lifter,’ Claire, who had also met him, said.
‘There wasn’t much to tell. You know I didn’t fancy him,’ I said.
‘But still…’ At which point she and Maddie hijacked my phone. They not only downloaded the Tinder app and set up my profile, but also swiped left on some (mostly geezer-type: ‘we’re married so our standards are low’) guys and even messaged one.
‘You are expressly forbidden to delete the app,’ Maddie said, earnestly. ‘Or date anyone too long. We want a book out of your experiences.’
