Wrought Iron Candelabra

When I first began to date the woman I am now married to, I found her quirky, goth aesthetic to be cute and charming. I was sure that she would get over it in a year or two, and although I thought her decorating schemes were tacky, I was willing to put up with them because of how much I loved her. Then we got married, and things got difficult. You see, if anything, her tastes in all things dark and Gothic have become more exaggerated over the years. For a time, I was prone to dismiss it as some kind of life crisis, but now I know better. It is not a life crisis – it is just life!

I didn't mind the wrought iron furniture that much, and I didn't object to the wrought iron candle holders in our rooms. I put up with all of the Nightmare Before Christmas figurines, and the skull shaped motifs decorating the walls. When she decided to put up a wrought iron candelabra in the living room, however, I put my foot down. Both of us love to entertain guests, and our guests are pretty tolerant people. I have always been a little bit ashamed of her taste, but my friends don't seem to mind. Nevertheless, a wrought iron candelabra is so over-the-top that I really couldn't put up with it anymore. She needs to realize that we don't live in a Spanish Inquisition era dungeon. We live in a modern American home, and modern American homes do not have wrought iron Candelabras!

I had not expected the wrought iron candelabra discussion to be much of a fight. You see, in general we are pretty good about compromising. I have always let her make most of the decorating decisions, but whenever I have had something very strong to say, she has taken my opinion to heart. I figured that, once she understood how much that wrought iron candelabra had begun to irritate me, she would take it down without much of a fight. To my surprise, however, it turned into the biggest fight that we have had in years. At first, she categorically refused to take the wrought iron candelabra down. Then, when she did, she didn't stop with it. She began to take down all of her decorations and put them into a box, sniffling on the edge of tears. It made me feel so bad that I almost gave in, right then and there!