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all?
    ME
    Probably not. That’s why I put my career on hold. How can my husband and I both have careers when we have a young child? He can have his turn and I’ll have mine later.
    MARJORY
    Tell me more about Generation X. What’s it like?
    ME
    Crap.
    MARJORY
    What did you think it would be like?
    ME
    Better than this.
    She raises an eyebrow. I take a deep breath.
    ME
    I thought we could have it all. I really did. I believed that slogan and I’ve tried very hard to make it happen. But the expectations are so high. It’s so hard. We’re supposed to have these amazing equal partners who we can talk to and share things with. We’re also supposed to be able to maintain our incredibly fulfilling careers while we raise our incredibly fulfilling children. We’re supposed to be able to have our cake and eat it too. But no one told us we had to bake the cake first. And cover it with gluten-free, low GI, sugar-free icing, sourced from a gender-neutral, sexually- neutral, politically-correct local store with employees who wear aprons made from hemp and wrap your purchases in recycled brown paper that leaves no carbon footprint. Then after we’ve fed the cake to our natural-cotton wearing children, we’re supposed to model inclusion by consuming a slice ourselves, but without gaining a bloody kilo because we’re still supposed to have the body we had before we had children even though we have no motivation to exercise, feel exhausted and barely recognise ourselves when we look in the mirror. And we’re supposed to be able to express these feelings openly to our adoring, committed partners who will help us navigate our way through it all at the same time we’re crashing through the glass ceiling. My husband couldn’t care less. Sorry, I’m raving.
    Awkward pause.
    MARJORY
    You have a very unhappy marriage.
    She’s only just met me. I feel like I’ve taken my dirty undies off and she’s holding them in the air for all to see. There’s a Stanislavski acting exercise all about that. You have to imagine the acting tutor is waving your soiled undies around for all to see and you have to try to grab them back. It was something about intention, motivation. What’s driving the character in the moment, how they respond to internal impulses. I never really saw the point. Now I do. I’d be grabbing those soiled undies in record time.
    MARJORY
    You need to put on your life jacket and learn to swim.
    ME
    Pardon?
    MARJORY
    Prepare for the worst. It doesn’t sound like your husband’s into it. And I doubt he’s going to change.
    ME
    Really? I rave on about Gen X and you tell me to prepare for the worst?
    MARJORY
    You have to take care of yourself. You’re on two different pages. He might change, but you can’t make him.
    ME
    Really?
    MARJORY
    Really. All you can do is take responsibility for yourself and your needs.
    ME
    How?
    MARJORY
    Put on your lifejacket and prepare yourself. Get used to standing on your own two feet. And learn to swim. That way you’re fully protected.
    ME
    Why do I need protection?
    MARJORY
    There’s a problem here, Persephone. You need to surface what’s really going on in this relationship. Give him an ultimatum.
    ME
    An ultimatum?
    MARJORY
    It works. Smoke him out.
    ME
    Sounds a little heavy.
    MARJORY
    Tell him you have three months, both of you, to either make it work, or to end it.
    ME
    I don’t want to end it.
    MARJORY
    He might.
    ME
    But we’re married.
    MARJORY
    That’s a piece of paper.
    ME
    It’s more than that.
    MARJORY
    For you it is. Doesn’t sound like it is for him. Spend three months going on dates, getting to know each other, spending quality time together. Then reassess. If his mood and behaviour don’t improve, he’s giving you a clear sign. It’s over.
    ME
    I don’t want it to be over.
    MARJORY
    You might not have a choice.
    ME
    Don’t you always have a choice?
    MARJORY
    You can choose how you respond. That’s a choice. Do you want to spend your life in limbo?
    ME
    If I