The other day I belted out a line from an obscure Kiss song featured on an album (that’s right, album) released nearly three decades ago.
Without skipping a beat, Jennifer followed my lead and piped in with the song’s next line. Yeah, of an obscure Kiss song that I listened to with my friends growing up.
I flashed her the how-the-heck-did-you-know-that look, to which she smiled, shrugged her shoulders and said, “I was a good little brother.”
Jennifer has a great relationship with her older brother, Steve. She had picked up a lot of his interests and likes, so after our seven years of marriage I should have learned to not be surprised when she quotes lines from songs, movies and TV shows that as a young boy I never thought little girls would like.
With this line of thinking, I guess I’ve learned to be a, well, a good big sister. This is especially true when it comes to Jennifer pursuing her graduate degree in Humanities at Central Michigan University.
Her studies are focusing on women and disabilities, and part of her classes this summer required her to watch movies and TV shows that focused on women and disabilities. Turns out, I watched them all with her.
And so, if you started belting out the names Auti, Angela and Tiphany, I’d be quick to chime in and add Mia to your list of the women featured in the Sundance show Push Girls.
Jennifer’s good big sister? Perhaps. But I’d prefer to think of myself as a supportive spouse who couldn’t be more proud of my wife and her accomplishments.
After all, check out this essay she recently wrote for HealthCentral and see what types of insightful thoughts and perspectives she’s bringing to the conversations about women and disabilities: