The Lounge

The Couple

As I sat in the lounge waiting for my train, I had made a cup of coffee when this person walked in with baggage and all hung a coat on the stand and sat to have a snack.

The concierge advised that food was not allowed in the lounge, which is a shame because airport lounges at least have free snacks; the ones in Germany have biscuits for the coffees.

Settling down, later on, another person walked in, they knew each other, they hugged and kissed as they shared the events of the day that just closed.

Their eyes radiant, they looked like very successful and busy people, the weekend away was probably time to spend quality time together.

They held hands, caressed each other – somewhere between preening and grooming, these were people into each other so much, any observer would see this was love.

They left hand-in-hand for the train soon afterwards, we all smiled – for those with partners they must have wished they had theirs to have and to hold – to those without, inaudible sighs about a life that could be.

Then to the strains of The Rose by Bette Midler, you realise that it is the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.

I learnt that the expression of love between people is theirs for each other; how they share it is nobody’s business if we concentrated on strengthening our own relationships rather than attacking others in the hope that ours might appear better.