The Blogger's Wife

I often tell my teens that when they look for someone to marry, it shouldn't just be a romantic hottie, but a best friend who's a blast to hang out with between the kissy-kissy stuff. Every day I thank God for my wife, because she's about the best friend I've ever had -- there's nobody else on this planet I can be that weird with, or start making up driving songs with, or go into Hot Topic and start playing with the Lambchop puppets with.

I mention this because there's always a lot of talk about how to properly handle relationships and marriages when you're a gamer and your partner is not, and I've added a second layer onto that -- I'm a gamer who spends a bit of time writing about gaming as well. While my wife played a bit of World of Warcraft back in the day, MMOs aren't her thing -- she'd rather read a book or play Desktop Tower Defense. Whatever Warhammer is to her, it isn't anything gripping or personal, it's just her hubby's hobby. Yet, bless her soul, she looks for little ways to share that hobby with me.

For instance, she's never once mocked me for being a 32-year-old man who has probably written a full-length novel worth of posts on a video game, which would be totally within her right. Whenever something really cool happens with the blog -- I get an interview, or we do a podcast, or WAAAGH! is mentioned in the newsletter -- she's right there beside me to offer a smile and a sincere congratulations. She sometimes reads the blog or listens to the podcasts, not understanding at all what I'm talking about, but engaging with it nonetheless. And this afternoon, she was surfing some site and saw an ad for Warhammer's free 10-day trial, she made sure to get a screengrab and e-mail it to me, just in case it was important. That's how very cool she is.

Part of all this is that she understands that as fun and exciting as this is to me, it's never grown to be an obsession or taken priority over her or anything important in my life. She knows that if she's having a bad day, the computer goes off and she gets extra time with me. For my part, I don't talk about WAR a lot at home, just a little snippet now and then, because it shouldn't be the only thing I talk about with her. I keep a tight reign on my gaming time, and if there are evenings that I can't log on, then I don't freak out as I might've four or five years ago.

I just wanted to share this with you guys, not as a bragging thing, but just to demonstrate a practical example of a gamer and blogger who is working hard to make sure that a hobby stays just that, and doesn't grow into anything inappropriate. And for those of you out there with a significant other who games and you don't, it might seem completely geeky and silly to you, but it goes a long way in your relationship if you don't make fun of it, but gently try to understand and support it. These things are a two-way street.