My father-in-law is a mural painter and my mother-in-law is a clay sculptor who sells gorgeous pottery at local art fairs.
Needless to say, my wife grew up with many hobbies and activities to do related to the arts.
She was never as proficient as either of her parents at their individual art mediums, she still enjoyed art projects and eventually discovered a knack for the electric pottery wheel that was a staple of her mother’s sculpting studio. My wife tells me nowadays how she would come home from school dripping with stress and exhaustion and would immediately feel at home in the sculpting studio when she’d turn on the pottery wheel and transform a small piece of clay into something beautiful or simply interesting. When we finally purchased a house together, I told her that my goal was to create a pottery studio for her before we spent money on anything else that isn’t completely necessary. I waited two years to get a woodworking woodshop in the garage because I diverted my recreation money toward stocking my wife’s pottery studio with tools, clay, glaze, and a kiln to fire her creations and harden them into ceramic stone. Now we’re adding a ductless mini split to the pottery studio to keep my wife comfortably cool during our intense summer seasons. She had the choice between a ductless mini split and wimpy window air conditioner and I encouraged her to go with the former even if it meant spending more money than I was expecting at first. I am willing to go to the furthest extent possible to ensure my wife’s happiness, even if it means going without things that make me happy for the short term.