With Natalie making her way up back up the East Coast to New Haven, our home quickly got back into operational mode with just three of us. Graham moved his primary workstation back across the hall into Natalie's room, which we will now refer to as "Leon's Room" because our shy tabby pretty much lives in there. Thankfully, he also become much more willing to receive love from everyone else once Natalie -- a more or less constant source of affection for him -- disappears.
It is different without her. The quality of our meals will go downhill with her culinary bustling gone. But gone also is the underlying tension between Mary's deeply ingrained weight-consciousness and Natalie's gentle but insistent body-positive rebellion against it,* aided and abetted by my exercise-enabled dietary extended adolescence.
Graham, for his part, returns to his period of being the only child, which he gets later in life, whereas Natalie got it when we were younger and more energetic but perhaps less wise.
Mostly, Mary and I are reminded that before too long he will be gone too so we have to focus on being kind to one another.
*As youthful rebellions go this is not a very destructive one
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