A Hard Day`s Work..

The G and I finally bought ourselves this L-shaped table, spreading across the two walls of the home office,on the far side of the room. Nothing spectacular about it except that it seemed sturdy enough to bear the weight we were planning to burden it with. And like all good things from Ikea, we had to assemble the darn thing ourselves.
So last night after dinner,we set out to make ourselves the table ,that lay in front of us in small bars of wood and steel. The home office was a mess. Papers, nails, hammer, screws, blades and what have you - strewn all over the place. All the tools we`d ever require, lay there right in front of us. We started out with the smaller pieces first. Adding a layer of cohesion here. Fixing up a few disjointed parts there. Drilling in screws. Tightening the bolts for strength. Giving some leeway and letting loose for some flexibility at the hinge. Misinterpreting the users manual at times. Arguing over the routes to take and vehemently defending our own wrong decisions, only to realize later. And then undoing parts of it and redesigning again to set things right. Bruised by a sharp edge here. Patching up a few harsh exchanges there. Singing along with the radio. Sometimes disagreeing. But mostly content to be working together. The quiet amidst the chaos, a hushed testimony to all the hopeful anticipation in our souls. The realization that I was more skilled in certain parts and that he was good in the others. That our combined efforts were greater than the sum of its parts. And finally after a few hours of struggle and synergistic efforts put together, a whole path of emotions traversed - from hesitation, doubt and skepticism about how it would all turn out, to anger and despair at taking the wrong turns, frustration at having to undo things and start afresh to the sheer euphoria of having reached one`s goal - here I am sitting and admiring a thing of beauty. One that I helped create. And I am left wondering if it isnt the same with our relationships...