The Floating Heads Club

 

My husband and I hosted parties at our lake house for the 4th of July for many years. They were mostly attended by his friends, some of whom I felt were freeloading every year for a free vacation. They would show up with a bottle of wine, some fruit, their two kids, one of their daughter’s friends and all of their beach gear. Sometimes they stayed for a weekend, sometimes for 5 days depending on what day of the week the holiday fell. More of his friends often joined the party for the day and maybe the night.

We drank a lot, and usually smoked some pot, too.

The walk from the house to the lake is steep and uneven. There are some steps with no handrail. This trip is extremely hazardous for me because of my disability in daylight. I require the assistance of a sturdy, able bodied person in order to avoid falling.

One year, a group of about 8 decided to go for a night swim. They ended up going skinny dipping. While they were floating on the surface of the water together, they dubbed themselves “The Floating Heads Club”. I guess it was really funny if they were all stoned. I was never included in this club because my husband was unwilling to assist me in getting down to the lake in the dark mostly because he didn’t have the patience.

This dynamic pretty much is the story of how our marriage failed. The kind of commitment necessary to make things work over the long haul requires a daily effort. The effort required to see if I wanted to be in the floating heads club would have taken about 20 minutes extra in each direction up and down to the lake. Instead, he rushed out with his friends to get in the lake without his wife. There was this assumption that it was ok to leave me out of physically challenging situations. I’m sure I allowed this to go on more than I should have, but I know we can’t change the past. So, he quit the marriage three years ago and we separated.

Moving on...

I met Rex online over a year ago. He loves me and has the patience of a saint.

We went to the lake last Friday night. It was hot. We very slowly hiked down to the dock at dusk with a flashlight. The clouds over the lake were tinged pink from the setting sun. We jumped in the water naked together. The water temperature was perfectly cool. Darkness set in as we swam through the calm lake. When we were fairly far from shore, I noticed that we were a pair of floating heads. Looking around, the pink clouds reflected on the surface.

In reviewing the house guest book over the weekend, I noticed that my husband’s new girlfriend had been added to the Floating Heads Club. I added a new entry that there is now an exclusive VIP Floating Heads Club.