...My Husband's Secret Request...

I've been married to John for nearly two decades now. We have a good life together, but over the past year, he's been more distant and irritable than usual....One night, he asked me if I would be willing to act as his substitute teacher in front of our students at an evening class...he wanted me to pretend to be him, down to the clothes, to roleplay out one of his fantasies involving discipline and control.....It was shocking, but not entirely surprising given recent signs of his stress. Our life is busy, and I guess he's just looking for a way to cope....I agreed to it, not really sure why, maybe because it felt like a challenge or because the look in his eyes told me this might be what we needed...That night was intense, both exciting and bizarre. The students seemed surprised but also titillated by my performance as their usually stern professor.....Since then, John has been calmer and more engaged with our life together. It's hard to explain, but it feels like a weight lifted from him....I don't know if I'll ever do it again...