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婚姻是一份需要不断续签的契约

幸福的婚姻也可以是一种磨折。Michelle Obama 后来才听母亲说,芝加哥一入春,空气暖起来,她几乎每年都会在脑子里演一遍离开父亲。说不清那念头认真到什么程度,持续一小时,一天,还是大半个季节。对她来说,那是 active fantasy,想想都觉得健康,甚至提神,几乎像仪式。

Much later, my mother would tell me that every year when spring came and the air warmed up in Chicago, she entertained thoughts about leaving my father. I don’t know if these thoughts were actually serious or not. I don’t know if she considered the idea for an hour, or for a day, or for most of the season, but for her it was an active fantasy, something that felt healthy and maybe even energizing to ponder, almost as ritual.

女儿从这里读出的,不是“其实他们不幸福”,而是契约不能一次签完。

I understand now that even a happy marriage can be a vexation, that it’s a contract best renewed and renewed again, even quietly and privately—even alone.

续签可以很轻,轻到只发生在一个人脑子里。它可以是重新选择留下,也可以是先允许自己想象离开。两种动作都承认:共同生活不会因为去年成立,今年就自动成立。

霍乱时期的爱情》里的说法更冷一点。婚姻每天都要在早餐前重新建立 写的是:婚姻每晚在身体之后结束,次日早餐前又得重来。一边是续签,一边是归零后再建。路径不同,碰到的是同一件别扭的事:两个人并没有因为结过一次婚,就一劳永逸地属于同一种生活。

Michelle Obama,《Becoming

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