Last night Shelly finally agreed to watch one of my favorite movies, "O Brother Where Art Thou?", with me. I was concerned because I thought she had an irrational aversion to it before having ever seen it. I was afraid she wouldn't like it simply because she was telling herself she wouldn't.

Well, guess what happened? She didn't like it. The movie wasn't even halfway over when we had to stop it and have a little discussion. I ended up finishing it on my own after she went to bed. In one sense, this really bothers me that the woman I love more than anything doesn't like everything I like. It's happened before--Shelly didn't enjoy listening to the soundtrack of one of my favorite musicals, "Children of Eden" (though I'm sure she'd enjoy (at least a little more) watching it live in person, so we'll see what happens next time we get a chance). And it's reciprocal--I dropped the bombshell on Shell that I don't really care for "The Sound of Music." Art is a very important part of my life, and that's why it's a little personally upsetting that my wife and I can't agree on what is good and entertaining.

But in the end, who the heck cares? So Shelly doesn't like "O Brother." So I don't like sappy old musicals. Should that affect the way we feel about each other? Of course not. Just because we're married doesn't mean we have to be the same person. In fact, the differences between us are what keeps us on our toes. We're still in the initial phases of marriage, trying to figure out things like this. I imagine 10 or 20 years from now, our life experience will be so similar that we probably WILL like the same movies and shows and music. But if not, that's OK too. There's always time to enjoy things that Shelly doesn't like when she's not around. Or when she's enjoying something I don't like. It's really not a big deal.

Still, I have to at least show her the scene where the dog floats across the screen. Even SHE won't be able to suppress a giggle when she sees THAT.