Guest Speaker

I’ve been told that you know you’ve spent too much time with someone when you start finishing each other’s sentences.  That’s a rather negative way to say it.  I prefer “You know you’ve met the perfect person when you start finishing each other’s sentences.”   What does it say when you finish your partner's blog? 

Jen’s been out sick from work for three days and things have backed up on her.  In addition, today is payday - the day Jen balances the checkbook and pays the bills.  She knows better than to let me near the money.  I’m a musician.  I can’t count past four.

The truth is Jen and I have a great relationship.  We share the chores.  She cooks and I clean up.  I wash and she folds or sometimes the other way around.  She puts food in the cats, I clean the litterbox. (I’m not so sure that one is fair.)

Jen is the confident one with all the bravado, and I’m the one with my heart on my sleeve, until I get onstage and then we swap roles.  Jen has always been my support.  Years ago when I wanted to try my luck as a performer, she encouraged me.  I didn’t make nearly enough money, but I got to sing and dance in front of an audience several times a day.  It did a lot for my self-esteem.  When we were teaching in Safford, AZ, I wanted to try our luck in Las Vegas.  Even though she was content in Safford, she knew I wasn’t and she supported me.  Las Vegas did a lot for me as a teacher, but it was horrible for Jen.

We’ve done a lot together.  We’ve taken vacations on both coasts, cruised to Mexico three times, (Mexico wasn’t worth it but the cruises were.), gone to lots of zoos, aquariums, museums and theme parks. 

A few years ago Jen applied for a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to spend a week in Amherst studying Emily Dickinson.  She got to spend a week surrounded by a town that loves Dickinson as much as she does.  I was and am very proud of all the things she does.  Recently she forwarded me a notice about an NEH grant to spend a month in Vienna studying Mozart.  She thinks I’ll get chosen.  I’m not so sure, but it doesn’t really matter.  Jen believes in me.  She completes me, and to help her out tonight, I’ve completed her blog.