My Other Half

Chel Owens

Did you know that I am married? That I share my life with a wonderful husband, and father of our five boys?

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I write about me all the time, even when I write about other people. I’m inside my head; seeing my distorted, depressive view of things, and that’s what ends up painted all over this blog.

But… there are more sides to this story than mine. I owe my lavish, stay-at-home lifestyle and this very blog to my husband. He is my patron. He’s also a devoted spy, reading what I write and ensuring no one’s comments get too frisky.

Yet I rarely specifically mention him.

Me: “Did you see what I wrote on my blog?”

Him: “Oh. Yeah. That story.”

Me: “…Sorry.”

Him: “It’s okay. You always write about me after we fight.”

My one-sidedness has been niggling at me. I haven’t been fair. I haven’t been honest. I love the guy, after all, and think he needn’t be misrepresented.

I’ve loved Kevin since we were 16 years old. One month or so after my birthday, I came out to the front porch of our house to find it decorated in paper cutouts. I knew the signs, and yelled inside that my sister must have been asked to the upcoming school dance. I was wrong; I’d been asked.

Amongst the paper décor was a page of instructions: to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” at the top of my voice, say the alphabet backwards, go to a Geocities website, and call a phone number at the bottom if I needed ‘technical support.’ He’d also included an envelope of the letters of his name.

I ended up succeeding in solving the puzzle, thanks to a little reverse phone number searching in our school directory. They wouldn’t have that these days…

The day of the dance, we played Capture the Flag in the school hallways, ate in our finery at a friend’s house, and attended the dance itself at the State Capitol Building. Neither of us could actually dance, so we talked a lot and pretended we could.

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By Andrew Smith from Seattle, WA, USA – Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City, CC BY-SA 2.0

Although Kevin and I attended the same junior high school as well, that date was our first interaction. I went home, determined to set up that LAN party he’d proposed during our pretend-dancing. He went home and told his sister he wanted to marry me.

Kevin’s an interesting person: extremely intelligent and analytical to many extents but also creative and artistic. His sense of humor is a lot like mine -or mine’s like his.

My mother: “You two have the same odd sense of humor. Do you know how I know?”

Me: …

My mother: “When someone says something, you both crack up, but no one else is laughing.”

She’s mostly right. Kev and I diverge a bit with morbid humor (him) or slapstick (me). We’re both right up wry alley, however, and enjoy intelligent observations.

Star Wars Text

From April of 2016, shortly after Disney released the first “Star Wars” film they made after acquiring the franchise rights.

He’s an excellent singer. His main career is a software engineer; his side, the dice business. In his free time, he likes computer games or interesting shows and films.

Our talents and interests crossover more often than complement, but it makes choosing a movie to watch easier. After all, what other guy chooses “Pride and Prejudice,” or what other gal chooses “The Matrix?” I believe our disagreements stem from the similarities; but maybe all couples fight, and fight over other things.

On the whole, I sure love my Kevin. And now you know a little more about him; about us.

This is the point at which I tend to ask the audience a question, like What’s something you want to know about Kevin? but he’s mine mine mine and so you can’t.

Instead, who’s your other half? Who supports or shares your writing journey? Does he or she read what you create?

—————-

Check out what I wrote this week:
Friday, January 3: “Old Year, New Year – Old Me, New Me,” an update on what’s been goin’ down in the last month, and some resolutions.

Saturday, January 4: Announced the 53rd Weekly Terrible Poetry Contest. The theme is a commercial jingle. PLEASE ENTER!

Sunday, January 5: “Memories Within the Old Hutch,” in response to Carrot Ranch‘s prompt.

Monday, January 6: An inspirational quote by Thoreau.

Also, “Postpartum Depression: Why Mental Health Surveys Suck” over at The Bipolar Collaborative Blog.

Tuesday, January 7: “Baby Blues (Eyes),” a poem.

Wednesday, January 8: Today.

I also posted on my motherhood site. I wrote “I Had My Baby” and “Sharing, a poem.”

 

©2020 Chelsea Owens

31 thoughts on “My Other Half”

  1. My wife and I will celebrate 40 years of marriage in August. It’s still a bit comical the way we don’t do anything the same way. And it’s not just to drive the other one crazy. I’m new to writing, picking it up as a potential hobby for when I retire. She reads what I write. I’m not much of a collaborator during the writing/publishing process. We did lose a pair of dice during a wild holiday game. But are going to search a bit more before contacting Kevin.

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  2. A highly educated lady once said to me: You are going to be like Gerard Manley Hopkins. No one can be bothered reading you while you’re alive, but they start reading after you’re dead.

    I have a few followers – such as yourself, but I don’t think my partner reads anything I post – although they have read “Wuthering Heights” in seven languages! Your Kevin sounds a neat guy and well worth having disagreements with!

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  4. My spouse is the saint. He also loves Pride and Prejudice, but just the Colin Firth version. He’s let up a bit on this but I think he still adamantly prefers this version. And he reads every single entry I write.

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  5. I love your mother’s comment about how you and Kevin laugh at the same things. That is also true of my wife and me. Sometimes we roll our eyes when people are laughing at something during a movie that we think is a lame attempt at humor. Then five minutes later, it feels like we are the only ones laughing in the theater. Maybe we’re the ones that are odd? Somehow that doesn’t bother me.

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  8. Nice to meet you, Kevin!! I love the prelude to your first date! My other half is my soulmate. I read my terrible poetry to him! 🧐 when he says “that really is terrible” I think I’ll win, then I don’t! Hmmm

    He will read if I ask him to. I’m not sure he cares to—it’s my thing, he says!

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  11. My other half is Tony. We met when I was 19 and he was 20, so not quite as young as you and Kevin, but close. He’s my biggest cheerleader, my rock, my source of encouragement when I want to quit. Marrying him is the best decision I ever made.

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    1. Oh, and your mom’s comment about you two laughing when no one else is? I can totally relate. Tony and I have the same warped sense of humor. It confuses other people, which is a bonus.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. ❤ That’s so sweet! I don’t know how far into it you guys are, but I find that young-meeting familiarity helps with the various marriage humps we’ve encountered.

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  12. My guy and I have over forty years together – And maybe we’ve had as many blow out arguments that can be counted on a few fingers of one hand. We are both laid back and full of humor… We are different but compliment each other. A good match 🙂

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