Today marks the four-year anniversary of the day Mrs. Ghostal-to-Be and I started dating. This will probably be the last time we really celebrate this date, since, well, she’ll no longer be Mrs. G2B come August but just Mrs. Ghostal (actually, she may want me calling her “Dr. Ghostal,” since she’ll get her degree in biochemistry next month. Busy year for us!).

But I wanted to pay a small tribute to Mrs. G2B on this occasion, as she has always been not only tolerant but supportive of my hobbies. Our first toy-related interaction that I can remember came before we were dating, when we were just roommates (with two other people as well–long story). Anyway, I had managed to string up my DC Direct Superman on fishing wire, making it appear he was hovering, and in attempt to be friendly (I won’t degrade the concept of flirting by calling it that), I made a point to show her. She was clearly unimpressed, but as she later told me, it wasn’t because she couldn’t believe this guy was showing off how he’d made one of his little toys look like it was flying, but because she’d been thinking, “Yeah, well, of course you used fishing wire–how else would you have done it?”

Mrs. G2B met me just in time for my years-long obsession with Hellboy, though she’s been privy to fads for Lord of the Rings, horror films, Halo and, most recently, Batman and DCUC since then. And she’s always been supportive–as some of you may recall, she even knitted me a Batman doll.

That’s not to say she won’t use my love of toys as a source of endless personal amusement at my expense, but it’s all in fun. I think.

Four years ago, I took one of the most important steps in my life. And I think I knew it, even then, but I’ve certainly become more and more sure of it ever since.

OK, end OT sappiness…