Greetings all you masses of readers! I know you are out there, you show up in my stats. Could always use more though. Tell your friends to read: “Across the Big Pond” at WordPress.com! 
… a little shameless self-promotion never hurt, right?
Okay, on to the topic at hand: Quality Time.
Yes, is a phrase that has been overused and often spoken, especially in giving advice on how-to-fix-family-issues type discussions. But I believe I have been indeed getting some ‘quality time’ in with my wife lately. How, you may ask? Good question, but the answer is simple: Reading.
Indeed, reading is not only FUNdamental, but it is soothing. Soothing for at least my mind and body, and perhaps for the soul as well, if you think about life and its infinite beauty and complexities from that perspective also. Soothing, I think and reassuring. Just listening to the voice of a loved one can help that day’s stress melt away. In our case, it works wonders for forgetting the large physical distance between us.
I mentioned earlier in this post that I was reading Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 to my wife over our voice-chat capability on the Internet (sad as it is, I have to admit I would be going crazy trying to ’survive apart’ from my wife without this modern technological wonder which we humans have constructed). It did not take too long, for it is an exciting (yet sad) read, and fairly short (only 173 pages in my paperback copy). Yes I am putting in plenty of side comments here, but I am like that. Deal with it…
Book burning reading over, we are now on another Bradbury classic The Martian Chronicles. I noticed right away in this one, that the writing style was very similar. I mentioned this to my loving wife and she had noticed it too. I looked at the first publishing dates of the books and they were within three years of each other. Actually, the first draft of 451 was written the same year that Chronicles was published.
So what? You may be asking yourself. Well, here is the point: The fact that I was reading to my wife, a book that she had expressed interest in earlier, makes me happy. The fact that she was able to hear my voice – which she loves – at length and interrupted relating to her a story, makes her happy. We have interesting side discussions about major or minor details, including this about the timeframe of writing the books, that makes us both happy.
Still do not get it, perhaps? I know some of you do. You know what I am going to say next. Right, it is ‘quality time’. This is why we are happy. Here we are, interacting with each other: reading, listening, commenting, laughing, crying (I started to cry during the last few pages of 451, you whom have read it will understand why), etc.
It is amazing. I would not have thought it was possible until recently. Yes, you can have quality time with a loved one, even when not physically together during the interaction. The next book will probably be by Douglas Adams, for some lighter, laughter-filled quality time.
Thus, this is Surviving Apart Tip #5: Create Quality Time. You can do it.
It does not matter what you do, reading is only one example that we have found works. You could have also simply played card games online versus each other and chatted or talked during that (yep, done that too). You could even go old school and write physical letters to each other. No computers, no printers, just some good paper (24#/28# minimum weight, and at least 92 brightness 
), a broad-writing pen and a stamp is all you need. Try it. It will feel great to get a physical letter from someone who loves you these days, right? Tucked in between all that junk mail and bills, a love letter. It is not a lost art. I will write one tomorrow…
This evening during my reading, I did not even notice or care that my wife, whom I love dearly and WILL be with forever, was not right in front of me, lying on the bed and listening to my voice. She was here; I was there with her. The sense of touch was the only thing missing, but you know, I felt her anyway…
Спокойной ночи, любимая… Я буду видеть сновидения о нас вместе.
