Uber-husband?

Last summer, my band played a show in San Francisco. We played at Lennon Studios which is owned and run by Bill's friends, Jimmy and Carole.

It was a great trip and we had a great time playing and travelling.

I met many of Bill's friends from "back in the day" (as he likes to say, referring back to when he was a punk-rock dude in the '80s).

Upon meeting more than one of these old friends, they would earnestly tell me what a great guy my Uber-husband is. One guy took my arm, looked deeply in my eyes and assured me that I had married a truly wonderful man.

It's funny because I totally know this. I mean I voluntarily married the guy because I was all in love with him and stuff.

It did make me wonder why his friends felt they had to put in a good word for him. Then I started to wonder if they felt my intentions were not entirely honorable like I didn't truly appreciate him.

That's when I got an idea.

For his birthday last August, I got his name tattooed on my back in kanji. It was a surprise for him. When we pulled up to the tattoo shop, he said, "Uh, honey, I don't really want another tattoo." Then I told him of my plan.

He loved the idea.

So I had the kanji for William added to the morning glories I already had.

Here's a bad photo of my tattoo. It's bad because it's on my lower back (where every other girl in America has a tattoo — if I had know six years ago that ass antlers were going to be all the rage, I'da totally reconsidered the location) and I took this picture myself while sitting at my desk here at work (yes, I am a total dork).

Recently we were talking to an acquaintance who had just come back from a business trip to China. He was talking about how he's working on reading and speaking in Chinese.

Bill immediately mentioned my tattoo. I didn't want to show it to him.

Why? Becuase I have been secretly fearful that Mr. Google told me that the characters meant William but actually said, "I suck goat balls" or something equally inane.

But I showed him the tattoo and he copied it down.

Then he called later to say that it is actually a transliteration of the name William (phew). The top symbol means awe and used always in conjunction with another symbol to determine whether it's awful or awesome. The second kanji means pure, having integrity. And the two together are the Chinese transliteration for the name William.

Phew. I was so relieved.

But let me tell you there are days when I'm sure the tattoo says, "You're the one who married him!"

Let's take last night. We decided to go the Thursday night Battle of the Band show (Bill's band will be competing in two weeks) to see how things go.

I arrived early with a friend and Bill met us there after band practice. I had to leave at 11 to relieve our dear friend who agreed to sit for us on a school night (she's an art teacher and she rocks!).

At 2 a.m., I was awoken to the sounds of horrible retching and vomiting sounds. My dear Uber-husband, who's really a great guy, I've been assured, was puking his guts out in the bathroom.

Apparently, being a great guy means not being able to say, "No thank you" when someone wants to buy him a drink.

So if you see my dearest today, make sure you talk really loud and make a bunch of racket, because I'm sure he's feeling a bit delicate in the head.