I was reading a Tolstoy story called “Family Happiness” in bed last night. It was close to midnight when I finished it.
“Good story,” I announced to my wife, although she was 90 percent asleep by that time.
Without opening her eyes, she asked, “What was it about?”
“A man and a woman fall in love and get married. They’re very happy for a while but then the marriage starts to come apart.”
“Because the husband spends too much time on Facebook?” she asked.
“No, they didn’t have Facebook in 1860. What I didn’t see coming though is that the story turns out to have a happy ending after all.”
“Perfect,” she said. “What did you learn from it?”
“The past is gone, but you can still find a new life and a different kind of happiness.”
“With the same wife?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect,” she said.