We have a new podcast to offer, I think it’s an important one.

When Maria and I first got together, there was much love, but a very different dynamic.

I was a best selling author, TV crews regularly flew up from New York to interview me, my books were widely reviewed, people asked me for my autograph I went all over the country on book tours, Jeff Bridges made a movie that was ostensibly about me.

I was on the verge of being rich and famous.

Maria was a quiet, anxious artist who had slipped into an unhealthy marriage, she stopped doing her art, was working on old house restoration, and was so shy thought she might have a speech impediment.

She had the lowest self-esteem of anyone I knew.

I had a popular blog, she had never been on the Internet, or owned a computer. She doubted she could take care of herself and was convinced no one would ever buy her art if she made it.

That dynamic has changed, which is the subject of our podcast.

Once Maria got to her art and was encouraged, her spirit was liberated, she has been on the move ever since, and shows no signs of stopping or slowing down.

Maria is ascending, right up through the roof of our wonderful life together.

She has found her voice, fulfilled her destiny as an artist, is selling just about everything she makes as soon as she can make it, posting on Instagram, selling on Etsy.

She still undervalues herself, but the world is coming to value her highly, something even she occasionally acknowledges.

Her blog is successful, growing and much loved. She is installing a subscription program on her website so people can contribute to her work more easily and regularly. Once liberated, her true self has emerged and grown and blossomed, it has been the joy of my life to see it.

Many people have asked her to do that, she has finally agreed.

Maria is taking beautiful photographs, arresting and artistic videos, and has become a graceful, skilled writer, posting about her work and her life every day.

She is now seeking payment for her blog and visual work, and it is possible she may take some of my subscribers away, even as my own base seems to grow.

Perhaps there is some reward for authenticity after all?

There is nothing Maria has tried to do that she has not done, and done well. She is, I believe, one of those people who can do anything she wants and be anything she wants to be.

She has become a vocal and articulate feminist, her search for voice shows up in her work all of the time and is familiar to many women.

I’m in a different place. I’m 17 years older than she is, my book writing career is winding down (I saw it coming, I started my blog), there are no TV crews up here, my creativity and energy are increasingly focused on my blog, which is growing rapidly. I am not rich or even famous any longer.

My creativity and my work now focus on the Army Of Good at the Mansion and with my writing, my pictures, the dogs, the refugee children, at Bishop Maginn High School and elsewhere, with our new podcast and our lives on the farm.

I have never been happier or more fulfilled.

I can handle being older, but I couldn’t handle being irrelevant.

How has all this ascending of Maria’s affected our marriage and our relationship? Am I jealous? Competitive? Secretly resentful? We both understand the importance of acknowledging this and talking about it. We have learned how to be honest with one another.

This is not what the patriarchy likes to see.

Am I one of those men who need to be powerful and dominant, to always be on top, or can I watch my wife rise and cheer her on with sincerity and happiness, even if it may come at my expense?

Come and join us in this important conversation.

In our relationship, we talk about things. I know where I am and who I am. She is learning who she is. How we manage this transition is important. I have no intention of being one of those men. She has no intention of deferring to any man, ever again.

Yet we have always found a way to support one another.

You are invited to listen to an honest and open discussion with me and Maria about where the two of us are in our lives, about feminism and relationships,  and how this affects our very wonderful relationship.

You can hear the podcast here.