We RESPECT each others interests but don't have to pretend to love it.

Exactly. And occasionally be a good sport (no pun intended) about participating/watching it. I would not, for example, expect an SO to come see every show at my theatre, but maybe come to the occasional opening night party or whatever.

(By which I mean Not Allowed To Leave The House level of stay indoors?)

In my family, the mother doesn’t leave the house for the first two weeks, and the baby doesn’t leave for the first six weeks. Seems to be working so far. I won’t fight if and when the time comes.

When my parents got married, my mom didn’t know how to cook (her mom was a control freak that wouldn’t let anyone else do anything, so she was a little sheltered). My dad knew how to cook, he was the child of a single mother who worked. So, my dad taught my mom to cook. When she got the hang of it, she took over, and is a great cook. When she went back to school when Bro and I were in high school, we all cooked one night a week. It became a competition of sorts (in my family? Really? Shocking!) who could make the best meal that week. (Fridays were tacos or pizza or the like, and Mom cooked on weekends)

My mom also made sure that my brother knew how to clean a house and my dad made sure that I knew how to mow the lawn. There was no gender assigned work in our house. We had chores, and we did them. And look, two totally self sufficient adults!

I'm much more likely to come home to a clean house and some nummy takeout, which is JUST FINE TOO.)

Hell, I’d prefer that. I like to cook, but I HATE to clean. I can and do do it, but I don’t like it

Yeah, I'd try to hook up with the woman and kids and avoid the husband at all costs. Does her husband work days? Oh, Frisco's early bedtime means you can't meet up for dinner or in the evenings, but a morning out with the kids would be great!

DH admits to me very sheepishly that he LOVES it when he comes home and dinner is ready--but that really only happens about 20-30% of the time.

My college roommate would often have dinner waiting for me when I got home. He actually did this before we were even roommates if he knew I'd be coming over.

To this day, one of the sweetest memories I have of being in college is walking into Stephen's room and finding his desk cleared of all books and set up with a chicken salad sandwich (smuggled out of the dining hall) and a cup of coffee (free in the lounge) on a napkin place-mat.

Frisco's early bedtime means you can't meet up for dinner or in the evenings

This really is one of the greatest things about kids. I mean, his bed time really is 7:00 and you can tell when he's out past that time.

And then there's my situation, where I've had well-meaning but utterly condescending people tell me what a "catch" I am simply because I love baseball.

I got told I was a "great wife" because I went on this motorcycling trip with Jason. Now, I don't think I would go motorcycling if I didn't know him in the first place, but I wouldn't go on a week long trip if I didn't like it on my own. Exploring his interests is like a bonus with purchase for me--being with him brings along cool stuff for me to explore. I know he feels the same.

I recently researched a team someone liked in order to have a topic of conversation next time I saw him.

I even attempted to borrow a jersey so he'd see me wearing it from stage in order to facilitate hanging out with him after the show and talking -- but the jersey's owner refused on moral grounds. The whole thing was hysterical.

I found him anyway and we had plenty of stuff to talk about even without my research.

Stephanie, I think I'd avoid the couple in DC. It sucks but I don't think you can totally count on the husband not being there. I have major issues with my cousin's husband and he sometimes shows up when I thought I'd made a husband-proof plan. You just can't be sure unless you say, "Don't bring your husband," which is tough to do.

DW does the cooking in our house and I clean it up.

Yeah, Seska, PCA drama. Unfortunately, let's call her "Lloyd", has decided to get pregnant and leave my employ. Which may well be par for the course apart from the fact that after two years, she leaves me a voice-mail?! Class. I feel like Carrie Bradshaw getting broken-up-with via post-it.

Which may well be par for the course apart from the fact that after two years, she leaves me a voice-mail?! Class. I feel like Carrie Bradshaw getting broken-up-with via post-it.

Awesome. I had a PCA just stop turning up for work, forever - she turned her phone off permanently - but she'd only been working for me about a month. Two years with nothing but a voicemail is really shoddy.

I mean, my keen detective instincts were telling me that there was something keeping her head out of the game, but as good as my gut is, I couldn't just call the agency and blame my spider-sense. But I was right. Yay?