A few months ago when Nick got his new job, I was really excited for him, but it also came with game changing news: he would need to be flexible and work from home.  I would need to be flexible and make room for him in our office.

I could have told you right then that it would be ugly.  The two of us?  Working next to each other? Small space?

Not to mention at that point in time, we had only one giant desk in the office and one (slightly wobbly) office chair.  Not only was this going to be a tad stressful, but it was also going to cost me money to buy new furniture.

We made the swapping out of who works at the giant desk thing work for a little while, but I started to get stressed out as one of my law review article deadlines was approaching and I didn’t have a space to set up “editing shop” for a few days. (Note: As a law student finals are stressful yes, but so is attempting to submit something you’ve written for publishing.  The best part is, I have no clue what I am talking about. It is basically a lot like that term paper on the death penalty you bullshitted your way through senior year, only this time, pretend your Sociology teacher is going to publish it.  Its not pretty).

The stress got to me and I think I finally gently edged Nick into fixing the situation with a trip to Ikea by stating, ”If we don’t get separate work spaces, I will kill you.”

My tactics are subtle, I know, but I find you can catch more bees with honey.

So we did that, and finally got two separate desks to work on which has been working out great, except for one thing: we still only have one (slightly wobbly) office chair.

We have developed a (modified) game of musical chairs wherein if you get up and walk away from your work space for too long, you get stuck sitting in the crappy wicker chair.

Much like the original, its not a fun game (and someone always ends up pissed off when their butt hurts) but we are making do until 2 new (un-wobbly) office chairs make their grand entrance into our home.

But it has been a humbling experience as I have learned a lot of things in this process

like waking up early has its benefits because the early bird gets first dibs on the chair,

and working side-by-side with the person you love is best accomplished with headphones.