[ WP ] Divorcing after children is the norm . Write about a family that stays together .

The coffee grinder whirls behind his paper, startling him, and her voice carries across the kitchen asking if he'd like some coffee. He resists snapping back that yes, damn it, just like the last 32 years and settles with a simple, `` please.'' 
 
 It's a cold and bright December morning, and they've settled into a routine since she retired a year and a half ago. The both wake up early. She makes the coffee while he reads the paper, and then toast and fruit and sometimes eggs. It's a quiet life, certainly one they did n't expect all those years ago when they married in her mother's back yard under an April sky threatening rain. 
 
 Back then, things moved quickly. They drove fast cars to places they'd never been, held each other fiercely at night, and fought passionately. Things never slowed down after Danny was born, or Sarah, or Jacob, just changed. It was profoundly pleasing in a way that surprised him and thrilled her. 
 
 With the children gone, she threw herself back into work with renewed energy and drive. He began to write short stories about his childhood, embellishing freely. Jacob moved back in after graduating with a degree in History and failing to find a job. Finally, though, he had moved to San Diego for law school and their kids were, it seemed, finally gone. 
 
 In'97 they briefly toyed with the idea of divorce, not as a threat, but as a possibility, but decided to postpone the discussion for three months. They never revisited the topic, although sometimes during arguments over why the hell did they need new curtains? she reminded him that she did n't *need* to deal with his shit. She could buy her own damn curtains. 
 
 But still, they begin early mornings at the kitchen table with coffee shared between the two of them. They rarely speak in the delicate morning hours, as though verbalizing anything would shatter the glassy calm that descended over the entire house. Things are simple, a state they'd always despised, but they found themselves growing comfortable in it, independently from each other and together. 
 
 She takes cream out of the fridge, pours them both coffee, and brings them over. He never takes cream in company but she knows him well enough to ignore that as he reaches for it in the early winter sun.
