Bodies in Exchange

"Hi honey, how was your day?" Amanda asked.

"Oh you know, same old shit. It's been a long day." I replied. "I'm gonna call it an early night tonight."

"That's not like you." She said. "I thought we were gonna go out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary?"

"I'm sorry hun, I've just got a lot on my mind right now and honestly I think it'll be better if I just head to bed." I lied.

"Well... at least have some wine with me before you go to bed then." She said with a fake smile on her face.

"Sure hun."

She walked towards the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine when she bumped into the table in the living room and spilled water all over the floor. "Shit!" she cursed under her breath as she grabbed a towel from under the kitchen sink and started wiping up the mess. As I walked up behind her and put my hands on her shoulders to help dry off the water, that's when it happened. My body felt weak, my knees buckled and I could feel myself falling forward onto Amanda. To my surprise, I landed hard on my hands and knees on top of Amanda who had fallen forward against the kitchen counter after slipping on the wet floor. It took me a moment but as soon as I realized what had just happened, I stood up only to see Amanda slowly get up from the floor covered in water and towels like nothing had just happened.

"Are you okay hun?" she asked with concern in her voice. "You kinda fell over really hard onto me."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just slipped on some water is all."

As my eyes scanned across Amanda's body, they couldn't help but notice something ever so subtle that they hadn't noticed before. Suddenly it clicked! The way Amanda was standing there with her weight more evenly distributed on both legs instead of favoring one leg over another like she usually did while standing around doing chores or whatever else it was that we do in our daily lives ,the way she bent forward slightly while drying herself off instead of keeping her back straight like she always did when drying dishes or cleaning up spills or whatever else it was that we do in our daily lives ,and most importantly the way she bit her lip instead of her usual resting bitch face expression-it was all so clear! When Amanda wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her, she let out a small chuckle as if something had suddenly made sense to her too about what had just happened. That's when everything came into focus: Her shoulders were broader than mine, her hands stronger and rougher from years of hard work around our house and yard (as if mine were soft from office work) and finally those large green eyes were no longer dulled by years of stress and sleepless nights raising kids but rather brightened by healthy sleep and happiness! We stared at each other in shock not knowing what to do next when suddenly she snapped out of it first.

"Honey are you sure you're okay?!" She asked again with concern in her voice this time and came closer towards me trying to check if I was hurt somehow but all that managed to do was further drive home the point that we weren't in our own bodies anymore!