Thirty and tired of living alone I told a girl friend, note a friend that is female not a girlfriend, she could live in my spare bedroom for $300/month. A week later she asked if she could freshen up the place, update it. I did not agree to feminize the place. The shower curtain went first, then the bathroom towels and rugs, followed by some cushions for the couch, and a couple of paintings, and her room went radical feminine, and she got rid of my kitchen pots and pans and replaced them with hers, and the placemats and dishes and candles and she found a nicer bedcover for my room and sheets, and the ferns and she moved the TV away from the center of the living room, and said she liked our place. She said our place.

She was frank, she moved in to live together not to room together, and she wanted me to see that I didn't have to live like a slob, she wanted me to have a home not a dump, our home. Get married, just dive in. She was OK without a ring, an engagement ring not a wedding band. And a small wedding, nothing big.

I lied a little, she had been my girlfriend but she had put an end to it and now she was going to get what she wanted. I used my mother's engagement ring, sized down for her. The wedding was in the open at the park, the place took on a whole different look, my leather sofa went out, a stylish sofa moved in. My WRX traded out, a newer used Crosstrek moved in. So did she, she moved in. I never got a month's rent from her.