A friend of mine was married over a year ago to a man named Artie whom we'll call "a little different." He was artsy in an extreme way and although my friend has a bit of a wild side, she is hardly the kind of person to adorn herself with body paint and parade through a party munching on octopi innards. I recently had lunch with my old chum to catch up on old times and fill each other in on the present workings of our lives. After telling her of my plans to sign up for a Bob Ross painting course, and my recent foray into self defense classes, she informed me she quit her job as newspaper editor in pursuit of filming wild animals doing the dirty deed to splice together with home movies and Janis Joplin music in hopes of creating an art house film to win many obscure awards which will bring neither fame nor fortune. To each their own I figure, except that this new adventure wasn't her own -- this quest into film reeked of Art-house Artie.
Before my friend met her husband she was sensible, driven and a bit of an egotist. Now she is a female Artie whose sole goal in life is to shock. I wonder, when we find someone we are willing to commit to, must we leave our alter egos at the altar? Must a couple always be a "we," or is it possible to remain a "me" within an "us?" Can we be true to our partners and ourselves at the same time?
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