Five Years a Writer

Val and I have been together for 27 years, and today is our seventh wedding anniversary. Wedding day : Amanda, Randa (friend and marriage commissioner), Val  VOICE RAISED Tension had been building in me all day, though I wasn't aware of it until conversation at the supper table took a turn from which I could not reverse. My voice got louder. My comments more cutting. My delivery more animated. Finally, I crashed the container onto the counter and left the kitchen, saying over my shoulder that I'd be back in an hour.   I went for a bike ride, releasing emotional steam as my legs pumped the peddles and the miles disappeared beneath the wheels. I reached the local baseball diamond and stopped. I turned my attention to the innocent though fierce competition between the two teams and, within not very many minutes, recognized that I had overreacted, that my behaviour was unbecoming an intelligent woman, and that, having realized this, I was able to return home.  I practised saying