a few weeks ago, mike and i went to see a play on broadway. it's set in victorian times (the costumes were beautiful) and the main character, catherine, is married to a doctor. it was an altogether interesting play, even though it ended with the doctor and catherine naked in the "snow" (yay for the magic of theater) causing mike to comment "when i got up this morning i wasn't expecting to see another man's penis before i went to bed...", but that's not really the point i'm trying to make.

during the play, while her husband is treating a woman from their town, catherine takes the woman's husband out into the gardens for a walk.

they notice that it's raining and the catherine makes the following observation: "there are three types of people in the world. those that carry an umbrella when it rains, those that stubbornly carry an umbrella even when it isn't raining and those that never carry an umbrella whether it is raining or not."

"which are you?" her walking partner asks.

catherine pauses for a moment and then replies: "my husband has always carried the umbrella so i guess i don't know which kind of person i am! let's walk and maybe i'll find out!"

when i first heard those lines, i felt the obvious sadness for a woman who doesn't know who she is outside of her husband and for the unfairness of all those times that women have been forced to be lesser people than their husbands.

thinking it over, though, i've realized that i'm the kind of person who never carries an umbrella - not necessarily because i don't want one, but mostly because i just can't be bothered - and i married a man who has an umbrella when it rains.

and i'm grateful for that.