Spousal Support

I've noticed a trend over the last year, that has me a bit puzzled.  I'm sure it's been going on longer than a year, but I've never really paid attention to it.  The trend?  Sneaking figures, or trying to plan to sneak them, past one's spouse.  Luckily, I've never had this issue.  My wife has always been pretty understanding when it comes to my collecting and she's always supportive. 

When I first started dating my wife, she had no idea that I was a big dork, but once I finally brought her to my apartment at the time, she discovered it rather quickly.  I had a couple of bookshelves filled with Transformers and 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe figures.  I imagine that she had one singular thought in her head.

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 Luckily, she (mostly) bought my excuse that they were childhood toys that I was holding on to for when my son was old enough.  Sucker.  Once she realized that I was adding to the collection, we were engaged and moving into our new house.  Of course, then came the conversation.  You know which one I'm talking about - how much did I spend on toys on average?  How often did I purchase toys?  Did I sacrifice bills or essentials for toys?  I managed to calm her nerves by proving that I only bought what I could afford, when I could afford it.  At that time, we came to an agreement - as long as I didn't blow the bank and stop the family from doing what the family needed or wanted to do, I was free to buy what I liked.  It's an arrangement that is still going to this day.

Eventually, my wife has taken a bit of an interest in my hobby.  She doesn't look for figures for me, she doesn't know any of their names, but she does like to know what's going on.  Her main point of interest was in the displaying of my Transformers.  To that end, she's been actively searching for cases.  After a few misfires, she was successful in finding me a case.

I got the Detolfs a few months ago, but my wife found me the wonderful case in the middle.  Some shop was closing for good and they put it up for sale on Cragslist for the low price of $40.  My wife found the ad, talked to the seller, and I picked it up the following weekend.  There are a few issues with the cabinet, like the doors are missing from the back, and the shelves aren't as wide as I'd like, but once I put it up against the wall, it was fine.  The important thing is that now all of my Masterpiece and most of my G1 figures are now protected from dust.  My Decepticon MP's and G1 Cars are in another case on the opposite wall.  I'll have better pictures of my collection once I get the room cleaned up and looking like I want it.

Here's a bit of a small closeup on the cabinet.  As you can see, I need to paint the bottom shelf there, but that's something that can wait until the weather gets a bit warmer.  All in all, it's an amazing find.  I'm very pleased with how my display looks now.

Having a wife that is accepting of my hobby is something that I find to be very rare.  I've dated a lot of different women (not to brag), and they've all had various levels of disdain for my passions.  While I don't expect, or really want, my wife to be super in to what I'm collecting, it's nice to have someone in my life that doesn't go ballistic whenever I do bring home purchase or when I get excited about some new release that I just read about.  Many of my friends don't have significant others that can say the same thing.  Heck, my wife is actually trying to work with a guy to build me a custom case so I can put all of my bases comfortably in glass to go with the rest of my figures.  I'm truly a lucky guy.