But in light of the Will Smith Oscars event, I thought about times my husband has supported me in a way that respects me as an individual. There were so many things wrong with how Will Smith handled the “in bad taste” joke Chris Rock made about his wife. Violence is never the right answer in my book, but that was his wife’s fight to have with Chris Rock, not his. Very casually at dinner one night last week, I said how mad I would be if he did something like that. His response: “you can take care of yourself, so I would never need to do anything like that.” Wow, that one statement made me super happy and proud. And his actions over the past 19 years of marriage prove it to be true. I am lucky that I found such a supportive partner, especially after being in an emotionally abusive relationship for a decade of my younger years (hello, Maid on Netflix was SUPER triggering!). So after that relationship ended, I was determined to find a partner who treated me as an equal, not someone to take care of me. I found that with my husband.
It’s a little strange that I am writing nice things about him one day after the NCAA championship game where he sent me video clips of Villanova beating UNC at the buzzer in 2016, while UNC played Kansas for the title. We will ALWAYS be a basketball house divided but truly equal partners in life.