It started with a simple statement.
“I’m going to buy an iPad,” she said.
My wife, the artist, had a strong, profitable year in her art business and was looking to upgrade her ability to deliver some of her projects and streamline her ability to manage the digital side of her art. Adding an iPad to her arsenal was something I fully supported.
Then, she casually — without batting an eyelash — dropped the bomb: “It’s going to cost something like $3,000.”
If it hadn’t been for the floor in our living room, my jaw would’ve hit the cold, concrete floor of her basement studio. Hard.
$3,000?!?! For an iPad? My spend-thrift side kicked in. Immediately, I whipped out my iPhone, pulled up Best Buy, and pointed out that iPads don’t cost that much.
Au contraire, she said.
Oh really, I retorted.
Um hmm, she said.
This wasn’t just any iPad. It had to be top of the line to deliver what she needed. She needed all the accessories. Like, all the accessories, including a keyboard that cost $400.
“It’s a magic keyboard.”
My Wife, The Artist
The look on my face continued to betray my real thoughts. My jaw pushed its way toward the basement. “It’s a magic keyboard,” she added, thinking it might somehow help my suffering jaw lift itself up.
Yeah, magic for Apple. The magic of a cash register cha ching-ing.
“It makes it more like a laptop,” she said. To which I thought: “We have one of those already.”
But I bit my tongue. The art business in our family is hers; not mine.
I still believed $3,000 might be a tad bit — just a tad bit — more money than she should dole out for an iPad, but, ultimately, when you’re married to an artist, you know that it’s their business to run.
You also know that when an artist has earned a profitable year, they deserve to re-invest some of those earnings back into their business; even if a spend-thrift husband is still working to wire his jaw closed.
So, we are now awaiting the magical arrival of an under-sized laptop and all the fixings.
Thanks Apple. Magic, indeed.
Hilarious!!
Love it!
Great sense of humour, Conal!
I look forward to your future writings.