Dear LoveBites - my wife Petra is a werewolf. She is also a nurse, an excellent cook, and the most organized person I have ever met. My mother refers to her as “high-maintenance” because Petra requires a secure outdoor space one night per month, prefers red meat, and once - once - howled during an argument. My mother has never let the howling go. She brings it up at every family gathering. Last Thanksgiving she referred to it as “the incident.” Petra just smiles tightly and I don’t know how much longer she can.
— Standing By My Wife**
Dear Standing,
A nurse who cooks, organizes the household, and limits her transformation to one night per month is, by any objective measure, the opposite of high-maintenance. Your mother is cataloguing Petra’s differences and labeling them flaws, which is unfair and unkind. “The incident” deserves to be retired immediately, and you - not Petra, who has been admirably restrained - are the one who must retire it. A quiet word with your mother before the next gathering is long overdue: tell her that Petra is your family, that the subject is closed, and that Thanksgiving is not a venue for werewolf incident reports. Petra’s tight smile has limits. Do not wait to find out where they are.
LB