Today at lunch, I had the rare opportunity to pick Tim up for his lunch break and then drop him off at his training event when we were done. Usually it's the other way around with him providing the wheels.
After our mediocre sushi meal, I dropped him back at the convention center and then headed off to the movie theatre, thinking I'd catch some flick so I wouldn't have to go all the way home and back.
I got tho the theatre parking lot when I realized Tim had left his phone on the charger in the Jeep.
OH NO! For those of you who know Tim, you know how he gets when he's off the grid for even a little while. So I did what any husband would do – I skipped the movie and headed right back to the convention center so I could give him his phone.
On the way I began to stress about how to get past the front desk without an official ticket for the seminar. In my days of running a movie theatre I had honed my sneak-past-the-doorman superpower, and it's served me well in times past. Once I even talked my way into an invitation only DVD technology discussion on the backlot at Warner Bros. (but that's another story).
I decided that I would just bully my way through, saying that my husband is on call and I have his phone that he left behind at lunch. Surely that would get me in.
I began to reflect on how the ticket takers might react. Will they be supportive of the guy with a husband inside? Will they be all negative? Will they care? Will they notice?
And why should I have to worry what total strangers think when I'm supporting my family? Why does our culture still insist that I have to come out every day? I don't have to tell people that I breathe air everyday, why should other fundamental things about me matter to them?
I could avoid the whole issue and call him my friend, but when has my brother ever introduced his wife as his friend instead?
So I decided to just go full force ahead and not worry about it.
As it turned out, the force was with me. The ticket takers had all deserted their post and I was able to get in without talking to anyone. Sweet.
Now I just have to train Tim to start sitting in the back of the room…
One Comment
He's your husband. He left his phone in the car. That's how it is. I think if you treat it as normal, that gives them an opportunity to treat it as normal, which is how we get rid of discrimination.