I went to the mall to do some Saturday morning shopping instead of decorating for Christmas. I jotted down some notes of lyrics that came across the intercom: "My Christmas dreaming came a little early this year" and "All I need to do is dream you." I also saw an advertisement in a clothing store window: "Be iconic."
All of this might escape most typical individuals, but "typical" is something I have never been. Years ago, I saw a comedy romance movie where the lead male character began seeing signs everywhere. Those signs convinced him to return to the woman he loved.
So, here I was hearing "messages" and seeing "signs" in the mall after dreaming about Santa removing my lingerie. And, only a few hours had passed since Todd took his full pleasure of me as I leaned across the kitchen table. Yet, something on my mind was causing a disturbance. A word was bothering me.
It was not possible to delay decorating until Sunday. While I was shopping, Todd had brought down a half dozen large cardboard boxes before heading off to watch a football game in the family room. There was no way that I could step around the boxes all day ignoring the contents. So, I began unpacking and setting out the holiday trimmings. But, instead of becoming sexually stimulated by the Santa decorations, I found myself shaking my head at my recent behavior.
I found the box of ornaments for the artificial tree that Todd had set up in its traditional place in front of the large window in the living room. I paid very little attention to the task of decorating, because my mind kept going to something that Todd said this morning. His statement was now offending me.
Suddenly, my thoughts and actions appeared to be like some kind of desperate madness. The last five days did seem like an impossible dream. The only difference was that my body was taking an active role. Maybe, I just needed to wake up to reality.
But, I know the difference between reality and imagination. My mind had concocted last night's dream about Santa teaching me how lingerie is removed. My body responded with explosive orgasms when Todd made love to me on the kitchen table this morning. Yes, there was a difference between fantasy and reality, but my body was behaving as if there was no difference. And now, a word was bothering me.
Todd had called me "my little whore" during the height of his passion. That word had been on my mind ever since. I have always taken exception to words such as "whore." It is derogatory, and infers that the woman is available to any man who offers the right payment. Todd's use of the word "whore" and my acceptance, and even heightened sexual response to it, had me concerned.
In fact, the entire situation was beginning to worry me. Had I made a wish that had really been granted by some greater force? We have all heard the saying that warns us to be careful when making wishes, because they might just happen. Yet, making an appeal for the rekindling of passion in one's marriage seemed like a pretty benign wish even if it did come true.
Yet, I had begun to have these odd thoughts about Santa and Mrs. Santa after sending off my letter of appeal. My friend, Angie, begged me the next day to write a story for her to use for phone sex with her new boyfriend, Taylor. Though at first I was reluctant and worried what would happen if Todd found it, I faced my fears and wrote her a script.
Suddenly, I discovered that the sexually explicit words that I wrote turned me on. Todd suspected something was going on, so I confessed about my writing. Todd was delighted rather than judgmental, and I discovered that he even visited porn sites occasionally. His acceptance, and even encouragement, seemed to allow me to fly off unfettered, and I became highly orgasmic to Todd's touch. Hell, I even became orgasmic to Santa's light touch when he removed my lingerie in my dreams.
And now, Todd loves caressing me. My body and mind respond with fervor and ecstasy. Todd becomes sexually aroused very quickly like never before. Thus, the flame was kindled under our marriage bed, and it had happened in less than a week. That is a miracle. Therefore, I should be grateful and, maybe, a "thank you" note to Santa was due.
"But wait," I thought, "Todd called me a whore."
And now I was bothered. It all seemed very manic, and therefore not real. I could have created it all hypnotically with my mind, and my body could have complied to fulfill my mental fantasy of having a passionate love affair with my husband. But, what will happen when reality returns? Or has it?
Yes, it did seem self-hypnotic when I experimented with thoughts and images. I became sexually stimulated by the iconic Santa decorations and the color red when I thought of my appeal and even sang, "I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus," in my head. My lower regions began to throb at a level that put me on the verge of orgasm without any touch.
The throbbing stopped when I thought about Todd calling me a whore. Is that what he had come to think of me? Or is that what I have always been but feared awakening it?
It had to have been there in order to come out. But did I want it let out? "Damn! What is a whore anyway?" I heard myself say out loud.
"Don't you know?" asked a male voice.
I screamed and dropped a glass ornament that I was just about to hook onto a high branch. Then came the familiar sound of a fragile ornament shattering on the floor. "Don't move," commanded Todd, who headed off to the kitchen to get a broom and dustpan.
I found myself behaving irritably, and I snapped at him as he swept the fragments into the dustpan taking care to check the floor below my satin burgundy robe. "I thought you heard my footsteps, and I thought you were asking me a question," he explained. "I did not mean to startle you," he apologized while stroking my foot from just below my ankle across to my big toe.
I dismissed the importance of the ornament. Yet, I pulled away from Todd when he stood up and attempted to embrace me. I was short with him and sent him back to the family room to his football game. I went back to hanging ornaments on the tree and returned to my thoughts.
Suddenly, I found myself looking at some kind of fork in a road. There were three paths. The one pointing to the left read: Security. The one pointing to the right read: Struggle. The middle one looked as if it zigzagged across the other two, and the sign read: Becoming.
I knew I was offering myself a choice. I knew the path of Struggle, and part of me wanted to vent at Todd for daring to call me a whore. A deep part of me wanted to vent at him all the time since we lost our son. Maybe, I looked for excuses to vent instead of cry. Yet, both venting and crying over a loss so many years ago does nothing to ignite passion. It may have endangered Todd's self-confidence around assuring my happiness, and therefore threatened his virility.