Whether too slight or too vague the ties that bind people casually meeting in a hotel at midnight, they possess one advantage at least over the bonds which unite the elderly, who have lived together once and so must live for ever. Slight they may be, but vivid and genuine, merely because the power to break them is within the grasp of each, and there is no reason for continuance except a true desire that continue they shall. When two people have been married for years they seem to become unconscious of each other’s bodily presence so that they move as if alone, speak aloud things which they do not expect to be answered, and in general seem to experience all the comfort of solitude without its loneliness.

From “The Voyage out” by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf elegantly points out the vividness of a new encounter, contrasting it with the complacency that rules a lifetime relationship.  “The ties that bind people casually meeting in a hotel at midnight … possess one advantage … the power to break them is within the grasp of each.” I don’t agree that the bonds in a casual meeting are more genuine than in a long relationship. Yet, I concede the strangers’ interaction might be more vivid and exciting than that in an established couple. There are so many factors that play a role in an impromptu hanky-panky that one never knows the circumstances  forcing the participants.  This union is easy to break. Easy come, easy go.  As soon as sex is over, the liason is over.  They will probably not recognize each other when they meet on the street at daylight.  Of course, in marriage life, it is common to fall into a tedious relationship. As the saying goes, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”  Couples should always keep this maxim in mind to prevent the deteriorated stage where they “become unconscious of each other’s bodily presence so that they move as if alone …”