Empty House

My parents, Carlos and Rosi, have been married for 45 years, some of which have been happy times. Over the years and adding the empty nest syndrome, each one has been focusing on its own routines and daily life, separately. My father has dedicated himself to doing the household accounts, taking care of his cats and his car. My mother, on her side, has focused on going to Church, gathering with friends and planning her annual trips to Miami to visit family. They have remained together but with a healthy distance in between. Before the pandemic, they used these channeling distractions to help them continue walking side by side. But in March 2020 everything changed. The COVID19 pandemic led them to a confinement that would last for months, pushing them to spend more time together than they would have wanted, each one in their own separate rooms, but without the distractions that previously helped them cope with their marriage and the decision to stay together. With an empty house they were forced to look at each other, help each other and accompany each other. There were no third parties to put in the middle, not even us, their daughters, since we stopped visiting in order to protect them from the virus. They had to relearn how to live together, with all the pros and cons that this implied. Each one continued with their own separate routines, but they began to share and talk more. Although it also meant seeing more closely the defects that bothered them so much, the confinement made them face each other, since they had no other option, like a true mirror that doesn't lie, one that reminds them that they chose themselves 45 years ago, and even though it hasn't been a complete fairy tale, they are still here, with all the cracks and stumbles, they continue to choose each other over and over again, because they don't know how to do it without the other one.