When John and I still lived in Texas, we became early adopters of the cord-cutting movement. We started with a Play-on subscription and a WD box and found this to be clunky. I still have the Play-on subscription but we quickly pitched the WD and bought a first-generation Roku and fell in love. We have upgraded our players over the years and even bought a TCL Roku tv. We have yet to be disappointed.
This post was going to take a different path and I may come back to that yet, but now the stream is flowing and I just have to go with it.
So way back then, when John found his new job in Ohio, after being unceremoniously relieved from his job – nope still not bitter – we found ourselves in a predicament. For a few months, John would work from home and also spend time in Columbus at the office. It was something like one week in Ohio and two weeks home. Or vice versa. That was all doable in my book, Jack had the remainder of the school year and he would graduate and I had time to get the house ready to sell. Then off to Columbus and our life as empty nesters. But, the new company decided that he should be at the office in Ohio full time starting in January. This really sucked. I had hoped against hope that we would be staying in Texas and he would continue to work remotely. But, no. At this time we had a choice to make. Move to Ohio and make Jack finish his final semester in Ohio or have Jack stay with a friend or split up and let Jack finish his last year at home with his mom.
As you know John moved to Ohio and Jack and I stayed in Texas. We were physically distant and would be for what seemed forever but was actually months. It was not a pleasant time.
My grandma told me a truism once. She said that you should always have dinner with your husband. When asked what should I do with the kids when he was working late or odd hours she said, “So what. Feed them and play with them then send them to bed. Eat with your husband.” Taking heed of this sage advice from very early on, John and I always had at least one meal together. Even if it was his dinner and my breakfast because he worked third shift and came home as I was leaving for work, it didn’t matter we ate together until he had to travel for work. Then we spent time before bed talking on the phone together like teenagers. We made it work. But this long term/distance thing was going to try us. It wouldn’t break us completely but it would try.
When Jack was little and John was out of town I ordered pizza, when the pizza arrived Jack ran to the kitchen to get plates for the dining room table. And I said, “Not tonight. Tonight we eat like Men!” I plopped the pizza on the coffee table and there we ate, no plates only paper towels, in the living room in front of the TV. Jack thought this was the best thing ever!
So when John moved to Ohio and I stayed, Jack would be either at work or his girlfriends and there I ate my soup. In a cup and standing in the kitchen. I didn’t want to bother with actually cooking anything unless Jack was home for the evening. Then on Friday nights, I would get a small frozen pizza, and Max, Boo, and I would eat like Men in front of the TV. It was a lonely existence. Meanwhile, in Ohio, John made real food every night of the week. He likes to cook. I missed our meals together. John didn’t like that I wasn’t eating properly and came up with date night. We would plan a meal to make for date night on Sunday evening. We would buy the ingredients and prepare the meal at the same time and then send pictures to each other of our food. Then we would Skype while we ate and laugh and have a good time. Then came time for the movie.
So now back to Roku. We would watch the same movie at the same time all queued up to start at the count of three. One. Two. Three (press play). Then if you had to go to the potty you would just say One. Two. Three (press pause). This gave us months of Sunday Night Date Night dinner and a movie. That was the most fun we had during this time. I felt that he was still with me and I was with him.
Everyone thinks we are crazy that we didn’t meet for a long weekend somewhere in the middle between Texas and Ohio. The truth was that we knew that either I wouldn’t go back to Texas, or John wouldn’t go back to Ohio, or neither of us would go back, and we would move somewhere else. We had responsibilities so we did what we had to so that Jack could graduate with his class.
But, through all that, we made it. I thank Roku every day for being there for me and John during a very hard time. Early adopters of cord-cutting and being physically distant and socially aware.