How Writing Ruined My Wife—My Life...in PRINT!

By Kirk Melson

My first byline!

Did you notice my byline? Pretty cool, huh.

Today I’d like to share something that’s happened with my wife’s writing. It turns out a lot of her inspiration comes from us—her family and friends. While that sounds good, on the surface, after you begin to unpack the real-life application it’s a little messier than you might imagine.

When Edie first started writing, I thought it truly was a good thing. I mean, what man wouldn’t be thrilled that his wife’s first article was all about their sons? Edie wrote about our boys’ favorite event while they were growing up—brother night. It was an invention brought about by sheer desperation on our part, but was a wonderful alternative to sleepovers. And Focus on the Family thought so too, since they’re the ones who bought the article.

But I digress.

Not long after that, she shared about a MAJOR boo-boo I made in gift buying…with a few hundred thousand folks on a little website you may have heard of…crosswalk.com.

To be totally fair, she did mention it in the context of how SHE could have communicated better. But really, not something I wanted immortalized on the Internet. And yes, it is immortalized. Don’t believe me? Here’s the link to Developing Effective Communication in Marriage. 

Parents of the year? NOT!

Then began the series of thinly-veiled fictional characters who resemble various family members. (I’m still praying they don’t recognize themselves!) 

And there was her failed (thankfully) attempt at a flash fiction piece which incorporated the fact that our oldest son chopped down a tree with his younger brother clinging to the upper branches. 

Not something that puts you in the running for parents of the year.

Even as soul-baring as these forays were, the worst was yet to come. She began to rewrite history. And it all had to do with how we met.

Many of you know the story of how we met in church. Edie was singing in the choir and I winked at her from the congregation. And I was too shy to introduce myself that day after church.

But here our stories diverge, in what I consider a drastic fashion. I came back to church for the next four weeks, looking for Edie and determined to introduce myself. Edie was nowhere to be seen. 

When Edie tells the story, she implies I waited a month before introducing myself. Technically true, but it wasn’t MY CHOICE! She paints me out to be a coward…for an entire month. To set the record straight, I was only a coward for one short day.

She claims it makes for a better story, something about tension and conflict. I’ll let you decide. Here are both versions, if you care to weigh in with an opinion.

What next?

Edie's version of how we met.

My version of how we met.

But truthfully, I’d love to know if any of you have found yourselves featured in the words of your adoring spouse? 

Any ground rules I should know about before things progress further?