“Your art has become more important than the family.”
“No, not more important but equally important.”
“It’s like we have to juggle my work, Jill and your work in a constant war of give and take.”
“You see it as a tug of war because you now need to take more responsibility for Jill – for the life of the whole family – rather than just your bosses.”
“That is very funny now your own work has become more successful. You’re always needing time, never able to compromise. ‘Tugged’ is the right word. You’re like a tug trying to steer our family on a totally different course.”
“Edvin, ‘the family’ is not a product, not a fixed ‘resource’ you can forward-plan for the next 6 months.”
“But you want it to be completely flexible, all the time!”
“Exactly! Because a family is organic and needs to bend and grow and change to suit us and the world we live in!”
“That’s an impossible dream. Completely irrational.”
“No. That’s a requirement if we are to stay together!”
Later, after their divorce, Edvin told Kat he still believed things could have worked out differently if her art had not been so successful. Kat didn’t disagree but saw life as an ongoing discovery, an ebb and flow of people and experiences. Which, for Kat, was perfect inspiration for her work, the colours and moods flowing from her brush after many new encounters.
An excerpt from Brian’s Red Diamond, part of the Women out of Time trilogy.
