My wife has a secret life.

By day she is a Personal Trainer. She is really good at it. So good, in fact, that several of the doctors in the area send their patients to her to improve their balance, strength and mobility. It is a really cool profession that she loves.

But at night she is something completely different. How different?

That different! Peggy is a member of a musical comedy troupe called “Minnie Pause and the Hot Flashes.” The show is a faith-based show that takes famous songs from the 60s and 70s and changes the words to make them pertain to dealing with menopause. We have two different shows — one for ten months of the year and other for Christmas — and they are pretty hilarious. They perform for a lot of women’s groups, but the men who attend probably enjoy it more than the ladies.

For the past couple of years we have been doing 20-25 shows per year — I say “we” because the four husbands are the roadies that set up the stage and run the sound. It is a lot of work but it is truly a lot of fun, too.

When Peggy and I were dating she told me she had always had a dream of performing in plays when she was a young girl. As she got older she was involved with several productions as a musician, but she never got to be onstage. When this opportunity arose she asked for my opinion of whether she should do it. I told her, “You have always wanted to do it, so do it!”

She seemed surprised that I remembered that conversation from many years ago. When you love someone, you don’t forget their dreams.

Even when their dreams look like this…

 

OK, so I know this is odd…

I reached my fiftieth year in life without ever having smoked anything. As a child of the seventies I know that is hard to believe, but it’s true. In fact, the only time I had ever had a lit cigarette in my mouth was as a character in a play. Unlike our former president, I really didn’t inhale.

So, last summer before I turned fifty, my group of close friends was having a get-together in New Orleans. I decided that I wanted to give each of them some cigars at the event. I did not know anything about cigars, so I set out to educate myself on what makes a quality cigar.

Side note — when my doctor told me I needed to start drinking a little red wine every day for health benefits, I did the same kind of research and became fairly knowledgeable about wines. Apparently, this behavior was not an aberration.

Now I am fifty, and I enjoy a good cigar a couple of times a month. We live outside of Houston, so the weather in the winter is fairly comfortable. We have a fire pit and an ever-replenishing supply of wood to burn in it due to our heavily-treed lot. So during this time of year we can frequently be found on the back porch with a fire going, music playing and enjoying a glass of wine and a cigar.

I stress the word “we”. When I decided I wanted to try cigars I told Peggy that I thought it would be cool if we found a cigar that she would enjoy, too. She thought it was weird but agreed to try. I found some coffee-infused cigars that she really enjoys, so we share these evenings on the back porch.

I know it’s unusual to wait until fifty to start smoking, but I don’t really consider it smoking. I consider it enjoying a good cigar with a beautiful woman.

Who is absolutely smokin’!