This story is part of a series in which woman describes her and her husband's experiences in dealing with major changes in their life brought on by events occurring as they reached their mid-forties. It is recommended that you read the prior chapters first. A number of the characters in this chapter play major roles in two other series I have posted, 'A Week in Boise' and 'Mothers and Daughters.' They are relatively lengthy series and it is not strictly necessary to have read them in their entirety before reading this post.
It was early afternoon on a warm late summer day when my husband Rich and I found ourselves in the Boise office of Reverend Christensen. His office was a modest and informal one behind his small independent church. There was a wood desk, old, scarred and by no means ostentatious. The Rev sat behind the desk and Rich and I sat in a pair of armchairs across the desk from the Rev. Several steel file cabinets lined one wall, and a tired looking couch sat against the other wall. The Rev's wife Julia sat upon the couch. There was no computer screen but the Rev did have a closed lap top sitting on one side of his desk (which Rich knew was used to operate the relatively sophisticated computer system that the Rev used for his internet church and the new accounting and management system Rich had sold him). The walls were a tired, pale yellow, inoffensive but badly in need of a refurbishing coat of paint. The only adornments were a humble crucifix and a small, framed print of the customary, gaunt, unsmiling, Christ. All in all, a typical small businessman's office except for the two modest pieces of religious art which seemed to play the role of quietly reminding the visitor of the purpose of his visit. Religion was not, however, the purpose of our visit.
The Rev was a tall, lean, handsome man--in his late thirties, as best I could tell. He was attractive in a traditional sense with even features, dark closely cropped hair, and a clean shave. He wore a preacher's traditional black slacks and black shirt with a white ecclesiastical collar. The only variation from standard protestant preacher garb being the pair of gleaming black cowboy boots he wore. The most notable thing about him were his cool blue eyes that radiated sexual attractiveness. He didn't say anything that implied the sexual aura about him, but it was clearly there and I could only attribute it to his eyes.
His wife Julia was much shorter than her husband and perhaps two or three years younger. She wore a conservative dress that was buttoned to her neck and reached well below her knees--classic garb for a small-town minister's wife. Her long, dark brown hair was coiled and piled conservatively atop her head. She wore a pair of half glasses that hung from a chain around her neck. The dress did the best it could to conceal her substantial figure, but the contrast between her narrow waist, the broad hips below it, and the obviously buxom chest above couldn't be fully concealed. You couldn't accuse her of flaunting her shape, but her efforts to hide it were not altogether successful, a failure perhaps subtly intended on her part. Like the Rev, she had a sexual aura about her. It wasn't something you could pinpoint the source of but, as with the Rev, it was there and impactful. It was in the way she smiled and looked at you.
Rich had met the Rev before, having sold him a computer software package to help manage his modest bricks-and-mortar church and his surprisingly successful internet church. However we weren't there to talk about the software Rich had sold him. We were there because we had learned from our next-door neighbors in California that the Rev ran a marriage counseling business as a sideline to his church which focused on a very explicit approach to improving a couple's relationship by improving and broadening their sex life. Our neighbor Christina had told me, "Sharon, the Rev's objective in marriage counseling is to bring out the inner pervert in each member of the relationship and he is very hands on in his approach, if you know what I mean." Rich and I had already indulged an afternoon in a threesome with Christina, so I at least had a vague idea of "you know what mean," implied.
When we entered the office the Rev and Julia stepped forward to great us with warm handshakes from each. Julia followed up each handshake with a hug and a peck on the cheek. It wasn't a classic smashed breast hug. More of just a light grazing across the chest with the tips of her substantial breasts. The Rev's greeting was limited to a handshake, but it was an almost erotic mixture of a firm grip combined with the sensation of a soft touch which slid sensuously away as he released my hand. That in combination with his eyes had an immediate effect on me. My god, this man is sexy, I thought.
Once we were seated the Rev and Rich launched into a discussion of the new software package Rich had sold him. Julia and I let them run for a few minutes before Julia spoke up, "So tell me Rich, I understand from our friends that you're not here to sell us more software. So what can we do to help you folks?"
I didn't expect that Rich would be comfortable to continue the lead with this topic change so I jumped in. "Well... " I said, pausing briefly while I decided how to open the real topic of our meeting. "We understand from, Christina that the two of you have a sideline to your role as a pastors in which you provide couples counseling."
"Why yes, of course that's true," said the Rev, quickly remembering the purpose of our visit. "Perhaps you could tell us a bit about the kind of help the two of you are looking for?" This was where Rich, as I expected, went silent. I knew he wouldn't be comfortable discussing our sex life with people who he had only known in a business context.
"Let me tell you a bit," I said. "Rich and I are in our mid-forties. We've been married for over twenty years. We live in California's Central Valley where we raised two successful children who are now pursuing their own lives on the East Coast. It appears that Rich's workload will be easing significantly in the near future and with the children gone I find myself with a good deal of time on my hands." I saw Rich wince when I mentioned the job change he expected to occur because of the upcoming sale of his company. I guess I wasn't supposed to mention that I thought.
"We have recently been discussing how we plan to adjust to the changes our life is bringing us." I took a deep breath and waded in, "The issue on which we are seeking help from you folks," I said, nodding to both the Rev and to Julia, "relates to our sex life." Now that I was in I was determined to keep going. "When we were young we had a vibrant and creative sex life. It was exciting. But over the twenty plus years since then it has faded too next to nothing. We recently spent an afternoon with Christina that reminded us of what we once had. She has suggested that you folks could help us regain what we once had."
"Yes, we can certainly help with that kind of problem. Rich," he continued, "Are you in agreement with Sharon that you need to broaden your sex life?"
Rich looked uncomfortable, but he spoke up clearly, "Yes, we've talked about it and we think this is something we both want to do; something we need to do. We've let our sex life drift away so it was no longer an important part of our life and we need to fix that."
