What Soccer Moms and Famous Writers Have in Common

In his latest book, “When You are Engulfed in Flames,” David Sedaris describes how a certain phenomenon occurs every time he and his boyfriend Hugh go away together. Hugh walks too fast. David gets lost and begins to fume. He gets furious and seethes to a boiling point.  “It's OVER. That's IT. He KNOWS I can't walk that fast - he clearly has no feelings for me at ALL if he always does this. I've had it. This is TOO hard. I'm DONE.” Then, he eventually calms down and realizes he can’t so much as work the toaster without Hugh.

I imagine everyone has these moments. Not all connected to walking too fast, obviously, but each couple's version of walking too fast. Be it socks on the floor or wasting money on stupidity...everyone has a seethe-inducing activity. Haven’t we all witnessed a huge relationship blow-up on the streets of this fair city? Lord knows I have. Once it was over gum, I kid you not. Right in Columbus Circle. Trident, I believe.

I’ve been there too, livid, trying to figure out how to pay the bills on a freelance non-salary, many times. The financial meltdown robbed me of my escape-fume "I can do this on MY OWN," a very satisfying fume, as it turns out. Not anymore, ah, well. It’s interesting that a humble soccer mom and an award-winning, internationally famous gay author share such a common bond. I felt heartened as I read it because, though logically we know these things are universal, it's nice to be reminded so clearly. And so comically. Go David!