Meditations: The Enabler

Moderation is not my strong point. There are those who can attest to this. However, marriage has been good to me. Sometimes, it seems, TOO good.

My wife is a wonderful person. Seriously, I can't number the ways in which she makes my life better. But the one way that really, truly, surprised me was her support in this mad hobby.

Now, things started inauspiciously. I first mentioned the desire to purchase a shaving brush sometime last summer. She seemed largely disinterested, until I mentioned that it might cost about $30. She actually got pretty upset about this--she took it as a bad sign (see my first sentence above...). However, she eventually got used to the idea, and the feared financial cataclysm never occurred. Granted, her job with her bonuses, and my job with my pay raise and bonus, made this a bit easier to avoid.

So, I progressed, acquiring and acquiring, and my wife seemed fairly distant. She would occasionally comment on the number of packages, but as far as real disapproval goes, nothing really ever came. And then came the shocking revelation that all this time she had actually been curious about wetshaving. She wanted to know about all the creams and soaps and the brushes; she wanted to see how I made lather, and just how I used that enormous metal contraption to shave every morning. And then came the straights, and she wanted to know about honing and stropping, steel and scales and different grinds. She took me to home centers to look at hones, and furniture stores to look at wood, and then the true shocker: she bought a display case to put in the entertaining room, so people could see the curious things that I used to scrape the hairs from my face. That one threw me for a loop, indeed.

Recently, she's taken to watching me hone, and peering through the microscope to see the edges I'm working on. It's amazing. And joyous.

Just last week she told me "It's been a while since you did any shopping--isn't it about time you got some soaps and stuff?" without a hint of irony...indeed, she ENCOURAGED me to buy stuff! So I have a few boxes on the way to me, at the encouragement of my wife.

I am too, too lucky. And an, I can't wait for those boxes to roll in!