Spoiler Alert

My wife and I have quite a few similarities, especially in our background. We're both the middle child of a three child family, and were raised in very small churches in which our families comprised the majority of the youth group. We both have horrible sweet teeth. An actual exchange from this weekend went as follows:

Anne - I think I might make bars.
Me - I just printed out Cold Stone coupons.
Anne - OK, I'll make the bars tomorrow.
Me - Sounds like a plan.

However, there are some very strong differences that we've had to work through in our marriage. She grew up in a large city while I was living on a farm in the middle of nowhere. She's incredibly cute with very questionable taste in the opposite gender. I'm the polar opposite of that assessment. One of the differences that I was reminded of recently was in how we consume our media.

I'm very particular about allowing the storyline to come to me and be unveiled as the creators intended as part of their overall story. To me, the journey is the important bit, but for Anne the destination is what's most important. She'll frequently skip to the last chapter of a book just to see how it ends. Otherwise, she won't be able to sleep very good that night. I avoid even opening my book to the wrong page for fear that I'll catch something that I'm not supposed to know just yet. I want to experience it as I go along.

This difference was very evident last night as we finished the first part of season two of Battlestar Galactica. This series of disks ends in a huge cliffhanger that leaves the viewer wanting more. Very smart of the creators except when they are dealing with people like Anne. She can't stand not knowing. She was mad at the creators for leaving it hanging where it was. She was mad at the library for not having the second half of season two on DVD yet. She was mad at me for getting her to watch another show in which she becomes emotionally invested but can't immediately see the story line reach its conclusion. I slept with one eye open that night. After a few minutes of watching her fume over not being able to peak at the next part of the story, I pointed her to Wikipedia and the fact that they have spoilers/plot synopses for every episode of Battlestar. As she was reading through the next two-part episode, I would hear gasps and utterances of "Oh, my goodness" that means she had come on one of the juicier bits of the plot. She then turned to me and said, "I can't tell you any of this, can I?". To which I responded with a smile on my face, "Nope." You see, not only does not knowing drive her mildly insane, but also the fact that she can't discuss what she just read with me causes her internal conflict. Thankfully, she understands that I want to experience it first-hand as opposed to reading someone's description on a website of what happens. I want the story to unfold before me. The fact that she respects my stance in this just shows how much she appreciates me for the similarities and differences in our personalities. The fact that I asked around at work until I found someone with the next set of disks proves that I'm not a complete moron.