Welcome to the Weekly Guest Spotlight

Michael DeanTonight’s guest is Michael Dean. Although, he’s not a writer per se…he does have a blog of his own…and he has his very own special brand of insight. He’s my husband. For more about Michael, click his picture to visit his blog.

It’s not easy being married to a writer. Especially one with some degree of public notoriety, and who occasionally likes to tell all.

You know Erica’s antics and the things she writes about. I’m unfortunately going to divulge that they are all true. I don’t always read her blogs. Mostly I’m afraid to know exactly what the world knows. What I do read is sometimes a little close to home, and I’m certain I wouldn’t have painted such a vivid picture of our lives.

I’m a private person.

I suppose you could say my role in the fish bowl is that of the sucker fish. I lurk in the background and corners of the tank, doing my duty, not really asking for much attention. I don’t have flashy colors. I don’t do tricks or chase the other fish, or make bubbles (unless we’ve had Mexican food). And I definitely don’t order food in the drive-thru…using a fake accent…and asking for my food to go! (And yes…she really did that once.)

I do get annoyed sometimes when folks come along and tap on the glass…it sounds like baseball bats on trash can lids to me.

Erica doesn’t seem to mind the crowd standing outside the glass. And I guess that’s good for someone trying to make a living in the public eye. Sure, Erica is interesting, and creative, and a walking encyclopedia of useless trivia, and sometimes a bit flighty even if she’s always funny…even a bit odd sometimes. She’s also a fiercely protective mother and leader of her family when needed. It doesn’t seem to matter that she didn’t give birth to, or even meet the rest of us until not so many years ago…all factors that made me love her. I had no choice.

So, in the end, I guess it’s not that hard after all having Erica for a wife. I do get to meet a lot of interesting people (vicariously) and discover their angles on life.

Besides, I suppose it’s not always easy being married to me.

I told Erica, not so long ago, if it weren’t for the simple fact that she lives in different world than most people, she’d have gotten rid of me a long time ago. She hasn’t noticed many of my flaws…yet…and the ones she has noticed, she just labels them as quirks.

Like the time I paid a LOT of money for a domain name I thought would be a good investment…but it wasn’t. Or the time I insisted on buying a piece of land in North Carolina that we didn’t do a thing with…but I still might someday. And then there was the time I had the idea I could build a shed in the back yard cheaper than what Home Depot could sell me a kit for…and make it better.

I ended up spending four-times as much on the materials, with the end product being a tornado-rated structure. But I’ll bet a lot of people build a $8000, 12ftx 12ft military bunker-style shed in the back yard…sure they do!

Afterall, when your wife has Salem witches in her lineage, you don’t want any loose houses flying around.

That just goes to show how she puts up with my antics just as much as I put up with hers. I guess you could say we have an interesting life. Sometimes I have to meditate on a saying of Helen Keller’s to help get me through.

“Life is a grand adventure, or it is nothing.”

I’m sure I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the pict…errr…the idea.

Until the next time…I’ll be tapping on the glass.