The truth is that I never intended for that detail to matter in my marriage or in my life, because I had spent most of my adult years building my own path, working as a public school counselor in Portland, Oregon, where my days were filled with anxious teenagers, college applications, and long conversations about futures that felt both terrifying and hopeful to the young people sitting across from my desk.
My husband, Colin, was a corporate attorney who had recently made partner at a prestigious legal firm in downtown Portland, and although his career meant that most of his days revolved around negotiations, contracts, and long hours at polished conference tables, I believed in the beginning that we shared something simple and genuine.
What I did not fully understand until much later was that Colin’s world—and especially his family’s world—revolved around appearances, status, and a constant need to prove superiority in subtle but unmistakable ways.
The first Christmas after our wedding revealed more about that world than I had ever expected to learn.
