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A girlfriend called, angry that her husband had been AWOL with a large work commitment just as they were getting ready to put their house on the market. "He's been gone for three days," she said. "But it could be worse, I guess. He could be in jail, like your husband." Thanks.

At a meeting later in the day, a colleague sidled up to me and without a word wrote SUSPECTED SECURITY BREACH on his notepad with a giant arrow pointing in my direction. A funny guy.

John and I were married five years ago in what a friend called a '90s version of a '60s wedding. Sister Patricia Daly, a Dominican nun who foists shareholder resolutions on giant corporations to make them more environmentally responsible, officiated. She spoke about our joint commitment and passion for nature.

We've always been so well-suited, said our mothers, aunts and others, because we loved each other and loved something else, too. I've worked at the Interior Department in various positions since the beginning of the Clinton administration, helping protect parks, wildlife and other natural treasures. John started Ozone Action in the third floor of our Alexandria, Va., town house. It has grown into the largest group in the country working on climate change. Basically, we've always agreed. I don't like when he criticizes the president or the vice president, but other than that, we agree.

Now he was doing his job and I was doing mine and we were colliding head-on. His choice was to break the law. Mine was to work within the law. And complicating matters further were our two lovely daughters, happily playing at a day care equidistant between the Interior Building and the World Bank. While we were busy breaking and upholding the law during this week of protest, who was going to take them home, away from the masses and heat up their frozen pizza?

When I began to compare the important philosophical questions with the small concerns of our daily lives, the big issues started to seem fairly self-absorbed. After all, how can you save the world if you're having trouble picking your kids up from school?

John was released from the 2nd district jail three hours after he was booked -- his legal representation, bail money and moral support during this self-imposed tribulation were all provided with military-like efficiency by the protest organizers. That was good, because I wasn't prepared to offer any of those three things.

He arrived home that night with a marital record-breaking bouquet of flowers, easily $150 worth of roses, day lilies and foxglove. The next morning our toddler woke up with a fever and he quickly volunteered to stay home. Monday in jail, Tuesday rocking a sick baby to sleep.

I started to feel better about the whole episode. He didn't come home wearing a black ski mask so I figured he wouldn't make a career of eco-terrorism. "Good Morning America" called and asked to interview him. He said they were welcome to come to our house, but he wasn't making it into the city that day. I told him he would score major points with me if he did the interview with the baby on his lap, which he did. (He lost a couple of points for her weird hairdo.)

My mother dispatched herself from New Jersey to stay home with the children when the protests were supposed to get worse, so I could perform my job without worrying about their safety. At work I made a preemptive strike on the rumor mill by announcing to our political staff meeting that I was happy to announce my husband had been released from jail. "And now," I continued, "let me update you on the security measures for our building." Everyone laughed.

I was starting to see the humor, too. Inklings of pride found their way into my heart. Several co-workers sought me out to congratulate me on John's action, offering some version of "somebody's got to be out there raising questions about this stuff."

Civil disobedience is a grand American tradition. But so is getting home to have dinner with your family. There are few sane people who would have the temerity to get on top of a truck and speak to power and get arrested for it -- simply to make a point. My husband is one of them (though his sanity is still a question in my mind). And though I am loath to admit it, his actions are, in some way, a demonstration of his fitness as a parent. When our daughters learn the names of the people we honor for their willingness to break the law for their beliefs, one of them will be their father's.
salon.com | April 24, 2000

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