how many have a WAF?

My wife has (since before I met her) five cats. That took some getting used to. My stereo took some getting used to for her (especially the Spica Angelus speakers). She always said that the cats filtered out the jerks (she observed her boyfriends' reactions to the cats). I think the stereo filters out the jerky women. Anyone who tries to stop you doing what you like to do is a manipulator ... the earlier you discover this the better. Better to be single than in a relationship with a manipulator.

We're very happy together ... I like most of her cats (I even change their litter on occasion) and she now enjoys a much broader range of music. Our daughter (8 months) seems to like the cats and music (though her musical tastes are show tunes and "the wiggles", not quite beethoven).

In summary married and happy ... but glad I didn't get married to some former girlfriends.

Before taking the veil and joining the ranks of the nouveau pauvre, your prelate was married for 19 years to a woman with a fondness for imported horses and dressage riding. Yet she gave me hell over every new audio purchase. That is, until the day I had a Larson Cow Experience ("Wait a minute. This is grass. We've been eating grass!") After that, I just did what I wanted with my system and tuned her out. Actually, we got along much better once clear boundaries were set, gradually becoming less like cranky husband and wife and more like amiable housemates. Like old friends sometimes do, we ultimately drifted apart and went our separate ways. She still makes lots of money, still imports her Dutch Warmbloods, still rides every day. I have no money, spend too much of the money I don't have on expensive sound. And we're both happy.

will

I am 41 and will have been married for 17 years in 2 weeks. My wife and I do most everything together and enjoy each others company and hobbies. We have no children, just the 2 dogs, and we spoil each other rotten. We respect each other and don't try to control each other. We both understand that there's times when we need to be alone and we respect that. As far as the WAF issue goes we both have are area's where we will speak up. We both enjoy the audio equipment but I think I enjoy it a lot more than her. She does give me limitations on equipment, but only because of financial reasons and obligations. I haven't really figured her logic yet, but she thinks that the house payment and bills is a higher priority than audio equipment. Have any of you ever heard of this logic?

Are you sure you're not me ? You're wrong about how long we've been married and I'm a touch older than 41, but not much. I've never been good with dates, don't know how long we've been married (>10 years though) and can only work out how old I am by going back to my birth year (1957).

My wife is much more likely to spend money on the dogs, like a physical therapist yesterday, and a dog psychologist a while ago. Plus she likes buying skis, skis them once, then trashes them 'cause she doesn't like them (anyone for Atomic 9.18s and/or Volant Chubb TIs ?).

But she stays quiet about 'the stereo' (it's surround sound) unless it's too LOUD. I think I did 'a good thing' when I lent my brother-in-law my Linn Sondek. I got lots of browny points with my wife. What she doesn't realize is that when the deck comes back we're going to have to get a phono pre-amp so it will work in the current system (any suggestions on how to sell that one ?). Nor will it play her old 'singles' (selling just got a lot tougher).

We've been together 12 years and just got married for reals last year. We also divide the finances into two seperate pieces. When we both work (which is rare bceause we are both software consultants) we make about the same amount. We share pretty much the same interests - and just started a small boutique audio dealership together (unabashed plug: www.audiofederation.com :-). My problem with her is different from that of most husbands - she can barely stand the surround sound home theater setup (which I love), prefering 2-channel - and she keeps insisting that we get $20k and $30k monoblocks to play with. I say "Yes, dear, but maybe I should pay off some of my credit cards first?" Luckily she does not read this board very often :-)