Like I said The Third Time’s the Charm:  if not for Ellen ditching her college boyfriend, none of this would have happened; if not for losing the Mayor’s race, none of this would have happened, etc. etc.  What an interesting and fulfilling and fun-packed life has come my way.  Oh, I almost forgot, I just can’t resist, I have to tell the “Our First Dance” story – maybe Ellen will yet come to appreciate it.

So we’re at this birthday party the third-time’s-the-charm night.  I ask Ellen to dance.  She wants to lead.  Most all the way.  I have to fight to get a chance to show her how a man can also lead.  (Maybe this is why Rock & Roll, and just gyrating hips next to each other, has replaced the Fox Trot in popularity.)  So I should have been prepared for what life with this exuberant dancer would be like.

Our Wedding Dance – and still dancing after all these years!

Her wanting to lead has played out in most every aspect of our life together, from politics to the bedroom to child rearing.   It’s not been easy being married to this died-in-the-wool feminist, fully emancipated, self-reliant, truly smart and filled with wisdom, zestful to the point of being audacious at times, lady – whom I greatly admire.  Here’s a true story:

After observing her first year as a Legislator, I tell her based upon my five years of experience, that while it’s good to stick to your principles, there are always compromises in the end.  Keep your pole star, but so long as a final deal moves in the right direction, take it.

“I know that!!” she says, “Watch me do it!”

Tomorrow:  Filibustering with the Best of Them