A Husband Makes Things Easier

By TJ Seitz

Short story about a conversation between two people during a snowstorm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TJ Seitz
• Release date: Apr 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311194732

TJ Seitz

On the surface Mr. Seitz appears to be a quintessential middle aged male. TJ is married to his HS sweetheart and lives with his family in a suburban split level house located on the outskirts of Rochester, NY. Seitz has spend the majority of his professional career working as an information technology specialist in the fields of education, criminal justice/law enforcement and procurement. While working full time, TJ also attended college part time (and sometimes full time). To keep himself (relatively speaking) sane he majored and minored in non-technology subjects, earning a BA in English with a writing concentration from Saint John Fisher College and a MA in Social Policy from Empire State College. As an undergraduate student TJ attended writing classes taught by George Saunders and Judith Kitchen (though neither teacher would probably remember him). Distractions like kicking virtual wasp’s nests on BITNET Listservs (predecessors to social networking sites like Facebook), soliciting donations for a Panty Alter fund and hanging out with a heavily medicated professional drummer named Dirtbag interfered with TJ’s ability to write anything particularly noteworthy for either class. He also attended a workshop at the Omega Institute mentored by Marge Piercy and Ira Wood. In reality the stable full time jobs have been serving as functional fronts for TJ’s secret life as a writer. They provided him with money to pay his bills and experiential material to write about. The down side of working and going to college was that he did not have a lot of time to devote to writing and publishing. Adding a problematic first marriage, babies, a divorce, a few bouts with unemployment and colon cancer to the mix did not help much either. TJ is currently working on several writing projects/ideas and recently took a graduate writing class proctored by James Whorton. Mr. Seitz's essays and letters have been printed in both local and national publications. His poetry has been published both in the United States and England.

Book preview

A Husband Makes Things Easier

T.J. Seitz

Copyright 2014 by T.J. Seitz

Smashwords Edition

A year and a half after a difficult breakup, a co-worker of mine offhandedly proclaimed, I don’t believe it’s possible for me to love another man as intensely as I did Richard.

Snowed In

It was mid-morning. An unexpected lake effect blizzard hit the region just before the morning rush hour.

No one else had made into the building yet. Most employees were calling in because of the storm.

The roads were too dangerous to drive on. It was unlikely anyone who mattered would be showing up at the office any time soon so we just sat around; drinking coffee, answering the phones and socializing rather than focusing on our workloads.

The topics of relationships, marriage and love came up because Valentine’s Day was approaching. Justine asked me, So what are you going to get your wife for Valentine’s Day?

I chuckled and bluntly told her, Nothing, just like last year and the year before and the year before that…

She immediately inquired, Why? How is that possible? You two have been married for forty-three years. Lorraine is the love of your life. Don’t you want to show her how much you love her?

Justine’s response made me smile. I then elaborated on my answer, "It’s actually a long story. The Hallmark Holiday nearly caused a divorce for my wife and me.

For years I’d get her stuff like, chocolates, roses, sexy lingerie and the occasional appliance. Every year Lorraine would tell me to not get her anything because she thought the holiday was bunk. Every year I’d predictably ignore her request, especially after talking to