Spending 24 hours a day with your spouse

[Ready]

So...how is everyone doing spending all day every day at home with your spouse? We are definitely adjusting to the new normal of being around each other all day long and not seeing any other friends in person. We have been together for 25 years so I’m sure we will get through this, but it’s definitely not normal for us.

I’d say we are doing OK under the circumstances, but I don’t think I was meant to spend 24 hours a day with the same person. I have a large group of friends that I would meet up with every day to play pickleball with or go swimming with or have dinner with. A friend of mine asked me over to his house for dinner tonight but I declined because he has several roommates and I know they have been out and about quite a bit.

How is this impacting your spouse or significant other relationships? And if you have kids, is having them home all day impacting your relationship with them or your partner?

 

[Kwirk]

There's nobody I'd rather be with, pretty much status quo.

 

[cbo111]

My wife and I are probably an aberration, but in our 21 years together, we have never had a fight, and very rarely even an argument of any kind. We were both married previously and learned from those failed relationships. We get along fine and really have no problem being cooped up together. We are very fortunate.

 

[Dtail]

DGF and I are best friends. It is working out just fine, but boy do I miss playing Pickleball.

 

[Doribe]

I am living and SIP with my spouse in an Extended Stay America. My 23 yo DS had (untested) Covid-19 and he is living in my house. We ended up in this situation when DS came down with symptoms while we were in Bonaire.

We have been together 40 years and have figured out how to live together, specifically by being patient, kind and forgiving. That said I go for a solo walk everyday and I chat with friends on the phone.

We are looking forward to moving back to our house where we will have more room to spread out.

 

[LOL!]

Our house is large enough that we don't run into each other much at all.

 

[REWahoo]

We are getting along great - although she has been spending a lot of time knitting...
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[jollystomper]

No different than when I retired. DW was happy to have me around the house. Even if I was off doing my own thing around the house or yard, justing knowing I was home and not traveling to and fro across the world, as my job required in many years, has made her much happier.

We have a venn diagram of interests and friends, and we have a large house with already designated "his" "hers" and "ours" areas. It is easy to balance "together" and "away" time.

One DS is home with college closed, so our empty nest is temporarily gone. His job keeps him busy. We like having him around, he helps out and contributes to buying food, but we do miss the "total freedom" we had when he was out the house... looking forward to that happening again sometime.

 

[Midpack]

We’re getting along fine too, though we really miss our normal separate activities. We’re spending more time together but we’ve always done our own thing in separate rooms for hours each day, even when we’re in the house together now. After over 40 years married, I think we can manage this. Not a huge change so far but it appears we have at least another month [-]in confinement[/-] together so we’ll see. Fingers crossed the peak is mid April as “the expert” says.

 

[CardsFan]

We are getting along great - although she has been spending a lot of time knitting...
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Love your humor!

While neither of go out a lot, not being able to go out just feels different.

Usually I will make 2-3 trips out to the store, Lowe's, etc. just to do something.

Now, the poor dog gets walked more than she wants.

FWIW, DW had foot surgery 2.5 weeks ago, is in a boot, and can't drive. So she can't even take a walk with us. Really hard on her.

 

[Silver]

There's nobody I'd rather be with, pretty much status quo.

This..... we are loving this time together.

 

[rkser]

Our dog is happy as he is getting daily long(for us) walks, say about 3 miles.

Otherwise not much change in the schedule.

 

[audreyh1]

Not a problem!

We’re on a 300 acre farm out in the country. DH brought his camera, so he’s able to go outside for a few hours and chase interesting insects.

We have several rooms and are often in different rooms.

Pretty normal for us.

 

[Nemo2]

DW & I first made contact about 16 1/2 years ago....we've been together full time for 16 years. We like being together. In fact we like it a lot.

 

[Moemg]

We are doing great . We are best friends and have fun together so things are good but I miss book club . I do feel like I am on an episode of chopped with trying to figure out meals . It gets interesting .

 

[harllee]

DH and I have been married 47 years. DH is almost 70 and has an underlying health condition that makes him high risk for the coronavirus. It is now my #1 job to make sure he does not get the virus. Except for going out for exercise he does not leave the house. We allow no visitors. I rarely leave the house except for exercise and occasional grocery or food pick up. I love DH so much I do not want to lose him so I am doing everything in my power to protect him from this terrible virus. The virus is so overwhelming to us that we feel we are preparing for a great battle. We do try to limit the amount of news we watch on TV--it is too depressing.

 

[JoeWras]

We're doing fine. A few little snips at each other which we resolve in a minute. No problem. Much of it is actually nice.

Now the cat is another issue. He really misses quiet time with us away!

Finally, our neighbor is getting stir crazy and doing some annoying things outside to blow off steam. We have a good relationship, so I'm going to ignore this for now. I hope he chills out soon.

 

[travelover]

We've locked up all firearms and knives over 4 inches. So, yea, no problems.

 

[aja8888]

Our Terrier loves this! I am home about 22 hours of the day and that means lots of walks for him and I.

DW is housebound with COPD and on O2 100% of the time. We are very careful and have no visitors. Our 55+ neighborhood is secure and easy to live in. A Costco is one mile away and I only go if we need something.

DW was going to pulmonary PT up until we stopped the sessions a couple of weeks ago. No sense risking more than we have to.

We get along fine, but since DW is not very mobile, I am having to do more of everything, which is OK by me.

 

[Ronstar]

Even though we are both at home now mostly 24 hours a day, we probably are only together around 8 hours a day. I’m social distancing most of the time sleeping in the guest room, taking walks, putzing in my workshop, and watching tv in a separate room.

 

[harley]

We're always together anyway, so no big changes there. Our FL house is small (1200sf), but we have the front yard and the back patio and the gardens. We stay together all the time, but we move around.

 

[rk911]

doing just fine, thanks. nobody i'd rather be with.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Luckily the third time is the charm) We have been together 22 years and doing fine. We have separate offices, 2 TVs and we are apart when we go for walks. I take the little dogs who aren’t fast and he takes a 2 hour fast walk. We dug out all the board games we never played.

 

[Walt34]

We're homebodies anyway so no real adjustments to be made. The biggest absence is going to the gym. We'll have no choice in going out next week because two prescriptions are going to have to be refilled. For the first time we'll use the drive-in lane for that.

As long as the electricity, water, internet (for me) and cable TV (for her) remain functional we're in good shape.

 

[frayne]

Been married 40+ and together 45+ years, this ain't squat.