Yesterday was Independence Day. That day has special significance for The Wife and me. Back in 2018, we agreed that would be the day I “moved in.” I use quotes because it would be another month before I stopped sleeping at my Tampa house during the week. The big event to signal our change in status was moving down my cats to form our blended clowder. Or at least, that’s what she thought was going to be the event.

That night, after things and cats had settled down, I proposed. In many ways, this was the start of two people who had been independent agreeing to depend on each other for the rest of their lives. It was our Dependence Day.