Cast of characters: George

I cannot deny it. This is the man I married nearly 13 years ago: George Victor Whalen. See, he would want me to use the most ridiculous picture of him that I have, because he is a clown, a goofball, an extrovert who loves attention.

In part, that's why I married him. I figured that nobody would notice me when George hogged the limelight, that I could hide successfully behind the potted plants. And I admit that he can make me laugh -- when he isn't infuriating me.

He sort of slipped out of the closet when I posted my angry blog, and all of you who know him understand that he can drive me crazy. But he's not all bad, really. He's unabashedly authentic, corny and old-fashioned. He always has a clean handkerchief to give me when I'm teary-eyed. He's straight as an arrow and predictable as they come. He's a big talker but also a doer. He loves money and makes sure I don't spend myself into the poorhouse.

And he helps me understand the world that I mostly hide from. In type-speak, he's an ESTJ, representing about 50% of the population and nearly all of the people who lead us where fools fear to tread. It helps to have someone to blame for everything that goes wrong. Zach wisely pointed out when we were first married that George is a Roman and I'm a Greek. That sort of explains it all.

When we are not engaged in royal battle, we complement each other. I'm the thinker, he's the action figure. I'm the intuitive where he's the "one and one is two" guy who doesn't look beyond the facts as he sees them.

Yeah, we fight. We disagree. We butt heads. But in a perverse way, we're good for each other. And sometimes, like in the photo below, he is nice to my friends. That's Jennefer with George about five years ago.