“I thought meditation was supposed to help you relax and chill, not be wired. What’s the point of all that humming?” Tina mocked.

“It’s not humming and you shouldn’t mock it Tina. Had I not had an outlet through meditation I might have to find other ways to deal with all this. I might not even be here talking to you right now.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Tina challenged.

“We need to stop doing this Tina. We’ve got to get to a place where we can communicate rationally and stop lashing out at one another. I’m not going to suggest therapy because I think we’ve both had our fill of that. Maybe if you would consider meditation or at least going to that couple’s retreat in Vermont that Julia told me about; maybe we can get some help.”

“I love Vermont Bette, but I don’t know when I’d find the time.”

“Tina they do the retreats practically year-round. The sessions are Thursday through Sunday, It’s just a few days. I’m sure we can work around your schedule. Maybe it’ll help us to get to a place in our communication where we wouldn’t have the types of blow-ups like we had earlier this evening.”

“I’m sorry about that.” Tina said more as a reflex than really meaning it.

“I am too Tina but we always say we’re sorry and then we go on never really getting to the heart of the matter. We really need to scratch below the surface of whatever is going on with us before we completely fall apart. I hate how we are with each other. It’s not healthy, not for us and certainly not for Angie.”

“Bette I want to do this but the timing just isn’t right for me.” Tina said making excuses.

“Tina we’ll never ‘find’ the time we have to ‘make’ the time. As much as you don’t care to see it, my schedule is busy too. We’ve talked about priorities. I suppose it all boils down to how much effort we’re both willing to put into this to make it work.”

“You’re not being fair Bette. I told you before that everything can’t be on your time.”

“How am I not being fair Tina? Our relationship is in trouble. I want to try to fix things. We can’t even talk to one another without it ending in an argument. I’m not saying we have to do this tomorrow. I’m just asking for a commitment to try. I think our marriage is worth investing four days of your time don’t you? I don’t understand why you can’t take a few days off or cut a few hours from your work day to be with your family. If the retreat isn’t something you want to do then we can just take a long weekend and drive up the coast or hell we can just stay here. All I’m asking is for you to block some uninterrupted time for us to focus on ’us’.”