In conservative West Michigan,
my then fiancé, now wife of 22

years, and I, both widowed,
were interviewed by the local

health department person
before we were married to

find out about any aberrant
sexual histories and potent-

ially dangerous health
concerns. This woman, who

looked like everybody’s
really conservative aunt,

asked if we were from a
parallel universe because

we were both virgins when
we were married to our late

spouses and we both won-
dered what she was getting

at, when it turns out she
wasn’t getting at anything

other than that the sex lives
of most everyone else in this

evangelical, conservative,
Christian community, were

sexually promiscuous and we
are the ungodly liberals with-

out family values. She just
shook her head.