"What are you up to?"
My entire body was jolted out of some deep trance-like sensual reverie. I was so engrossed and absorbed in editing my first draft of Angie's script for telephone sex that I had not heard Todd's footsteps. "Sorry for startling you. I thought I made enough noise with my feet to warn you," Todd apologized.
"Oh, you know how easily I startle," I laughed swiveling my chair around as I quickly transformed the build-up of sexual energy into gaiety.
Yet, I could feel that tattletale blush warming my cheeks. Damn! It was like having a constant chaperone saying, "Tsk-tsk" whenever I tell a fib. Yep, there's that teasing little-boy grin dimpling Todd's cheeks. I'm caught.
"Yes, tell me. What are you up to, Jeanette?" Todd probed.
I could feel my eyes widen and then move into a squint as I began chewing on my lower lip. His eyes and nod signaled that he would wait there patiently for an answer. I saw myself standing on the edge of a cliff, attempting to keep my balance while a mental and emotional commotion threatened to knock me over the edge. Which way do I go?
Do I tell him that I was working on something frivolous and felt embarrassed over wasting my time? Do I tell him that I had just written an erotic "script" for Angie to use with her new boyfriend for telephone sex? Do I confess that I just discovered how my own words arouse me? Do I tell him that he caught me engaged with myself sensuously in a way that I had never before experienced?
Would he feel left out that I began this new avenue of sexual exploration without sharing the initial inspiration with him? Would he feel jealous that Angie and I talked so intimately? Or is this all about me abiding in some fear of his judgment? Maybe, the most productive question to ask is "Will he judge me?"
The sacred advice, "Judge not lest ye be judged," came to me. I have worked hard not to judge others, but I continue to find myself judging. However, I learned to use my critical opinions of others as an incentive to expand my ability to abide in tolerance. How often have I found myself participating in some activity that I once condemned? Yet, I believe that the ultimate jury and judge reside in my own mind. So, I guess I have to accept that I must have judged others who wrote pornography even though I had read it. Otherwise, I would not feel this anxiety.
So, what is it? I have done nothing wrong. I merely wrote combinations of sexual words into a script for Angie. Or maybe it is not the writing that confuses me. Maybe, it is my body's arousal to what I have written that is causing me confusion. Yes, becoming turned on by my own words has put me on edge, and I felt as if I was standing at the precipice of some cliff.
Suddenly, I saw a glass walkway slide out from the edge like the walkway in one of those X-Men movies. An archway over an open door emerged at the end of the transparent path. "Am I offering myself some new gateway to pass through?" I wondered. The first step off this cliff involved one thing: I had choice. And, hell, that is what I teach my clients. Choosing to move forward in challenging situations results in breakthroughs. It is my choice whether I am honest with Todd or not.
"Well," I said a bit hoarsely, glancing upwards as if searching for help from some invisible angel. And then I took a deep breath, looked into Todd's waiting eyes, and confessed. "I just wrote an erotic script for Angie to use on her first telephone rendezvous with her new lover." I was vividly aware that I had not blushed as I waited for his reply.
Todd's eyes widened, and his head jerked back briefly before offering a simple dimpled reply. "Did you know that Lucille Ball's first part in a film was as a nude slave girl? I believe it was Roman Scandal in the 1930's."
Yes, that is one of the things that I love about Todd. He has an amazing knack for defusing almost any situation by reframing concerns with surprising trivia. "How do you know these things?" I asked.
"Who knows? More importantly, how did Angie convince you to do it? And even more importantly, can I read it when you finish?"
I smiled sheepishly. "Damn! Can he read my mind? Does he already know when I am up to something?" I wondered. I knew that spouses, and even remotely connected people, can have some kind of telepathic interaction, but I stubbornly refused to believe it existed between Todd and myself.
I confessed that I had already finished the script and had read it over for typos. "How about if I email it to you. In fact, I just realized that I would appreciate your opinion. However, I am sending it off to Angie now. Oh, it does include how she won her case or, at least, persuaded me to help her," I explained with a surprising calmness.
Waiting. Now, that can be the most difficult time for me. Todd had gone back to his "cave," which is the spare bedroom that he took over before grandchildren. Now, he shares it as a combined office, television room, and preschool-like playroom. I knew he would read the draft in his own time just as he has done with other things I have written. Angie had her copy as well. Waiting can deplete my sense of confidence in my writing, and my confidence is really shaky when it comes to sexually explicit writing.
"Except for one very important discovery," I told myself.
Yes, I was not feeling anxious over my lack of confidence. In fact, I still felt aroused as I recalled that script. I had discovered that my own writing stimulated a new sense of arousal. I could not recall feeling like this before. Of course, I was not some schoolgirl experimenting with sensuality. Todd and I have been sexually intimate since I was eighteen, so I have been passionately sexually active for over two thirds of my life. Yet, I was experiencing something new and unusual; something that almost seemed prohibited. Yes, it was as if I had suddenly bitten into some kind of forbidden fruit.