Pardon the pun, but you're right on the money about money. Lúthien was the one who managed all the bills, and I always felt frustrated that I couldn't really do stuff--even stuff for her--without asking her permission. And I'm pretty sure she was unhappy that I didn't do enough stuff for her, either, but it just wasn't any fun for me. Christmastime, she'd go ahead and spend as much as she wanted to spend on stuff for me, but I always had to ask her how much I was allowed to spend on her. And it always turned out to be that she'd spend about 2:1 or 3:1 to what I'd spend. Sure, it sounds great at first blush, but I pretty much felt emasculated by it, and I think she felt underappreciated. I tried arguing about how I needed to have a little more control over the finances, but it never went anywhere. I find myself wondering if we had made a change there if everything else would've followed. But now I don't think I'm ever going to find out.
