A number of years ago, I was doing my own talk show on radio and one of the staff members had a son in an alternative rock band. A disc jockey from the FM side had gone to see this drummer perform and mentioned to me his similarity to both Axel Rose and one of the Poison front men. Ah Ha, I thought. My daughter- about 19 then and living on her own, would love to see the band play as she had always claimed as a teenager that she wanted to marry someone in a rock band who apparently looked like this guy. I didn’t expect that to happen of course, but I knew she’d have a fun night out.
The band had a gig in Santa Monica where Michele, my daughter lived. I gave her modeling Zed photo layout to the drummer’s mother who promptly filed it in a desk drawer and forgot about it. When her son, Brent, let her know about their stint in Santa Monica she remembered and told him about Michele. That night my daughter , with her long, dark auburn hair , her appropriate “I am going to a rock band performance" outfit, walked into the venue with no idea of who to look for. Similarly, Brent stood at the door, trying to guess which woman coming in was Michele.
When their eyes met, they smiled at one another. “Brent?” Michele asked sweetly. “Michele?” he answered pleased. The spark ignited.
Michele and Brent have been married for ten years; have two children, a home, three dogs, 4 cats and two horses. How on earth could I have known?
You never know who your children will marry and often at first glance you might not have chosen the guy with the long blonde hair, tattoos and the black bandana with skulls on it. You might even have counseled against it. Those were not the kind of conservative looking guys I dated back in the time that my parents would have approved of. But I trusted my daughter and her decisions and Brent was a great choice and I am glad I didn’t interfere.
Marriage and family forms are changing. The nature of relationships that last is changing and there are multitudes of circumstances that can disrupt a marriage. I’ve learned a lot to help me with my work from this enduring couple and am glad of it!
