“The Booby Trap” and What I Discovered About My Husband and Christy Turlington

To be honest, The Booby Trap is not the kind of novel I would normally gravitate to, especially after learning that the title is the name of the Hooters-like club in which the main character – the unfortunately-named Bambi Benson – waits tables. But, when I was invited to be part of the blog tour for Anne Browning Walker’s book launch and, inspired by the story, write about a surprising discovery I made about my own husband, I was intrigued.

So, after dismissing my preconceived notions, I started reading and was happy to find that Bambi is actually a doctorate student in Women’s Studies, working on her dissertation by researching the scantily-clad women who make their living there. While on the job, she meets Trip, the rich and handsome face of a prestigious Boston dating service, and they discover that neither of them is the person the other expected them to be.

The Booby Trap is a fast and fun read but it’s also surprisingly thought-provoking. It made me realize, once again, the dangers of jumping to conclusions, and showed me that I shouldn’t assume I know everything about someone – even my own husband.

This was made clear to me a few weeks ago when Michael and I were in Ireland, talking to a couple we had met on our trip who we knew would become lifelong friends. As Joan and I paused in our conversation for a minute, I heard Michael say to Bob, “Yeah, I worked with Christy Turlington before she really became famous.”

What???

I have been married to Michael for 30 years – we’ll be celebrating our 31^st anniversary next week – and I have never heard him mention working with Christy Turlington before. Cindy Crawford, yes. He loves to talk about “discovering” her for the Intimate perfume ads – you know, the ones with the ice cubes. But Christy Turlington, the model-turned-activist who just gave a keynote presentation at BlogHer 2012? Uh, no.

“You worked with Christy Turlington?” I asked, rolling my eyes. Anyone who knows Michael knows that his life is a celebrity-filled version of The Sixth Sense. Rather than seeing dead people, he sees famous people. He has worked out with Tiger Woods, mistakenly knocked on Sheryl Crow’s hotel room door and been winked at by Andy Kaufman on Madison Avenue. He has been in a pool with Elle McPherson and waited with Don Henley for a valet to bring his car. I, of course, have never been with him during any of these sightings – nor, apparently, has anyone else.

“Yes,” he replied, matter-of-factly. “I worked with her on the Trouble perfume ads for Revlon back in the ‘80s.” Now, anyone who knows Michael also knows that he is very creative and a brilliant storyteller. It’s what’s made him so successful in advertising and why he had two books published before he turned 30.

I’m not saying that he exaggerates or anything but his stories do tend to get more dramatic with each telling. The 15 feet he fell in Nepal is now 50 feet. The con artist who ripped him off for $100 has now taken him for $200. It’s kind of endearing.

“We’ve been together for more than 30 years, and you never once told me that you worked with Christy Turlington?” I persisted. He shrugged.

So, after 31 years, I guess I can still learn something new about my husband. Even if I only half-heartedly believe what he says – like a traffic court judge once told me when I went to fight a ticket, “I believe you believe you stopped” – he still makes me laugh, and that’s huge. And it’s one thing that, I’m happy to say, doesn’t surprise me about him at all.