06.13.2005 / 4:39 p.m.

Last night we got started arguing and, in a huff, I fled to the new house. It was empty and quiet. Too quiet. Everything rattled and hummed with my every step, my every breath.

Finally, he called me and, after a lengthy talk, asked me to come home. To the home we still call home.

"I don't want us to start off the new house this way," he said. "I don't want to associate it with arguments like this."

I agreed and left. It's not yet time for that house to become a home. At least not without him.

then ... now