I love this article so very much, though it may be one of the few times you'll ever hear me complain about an article's brevity. Magnificent!

Oh, and knowing Vi's proclivities, she might appreciate being called a pasty, rather than a Hot Pocket. Everyone, indeed (or everyone I'd care to hang out with) enjoys meat--possibly with cheese, vegetables, potatoes, and/or some sort of gravy--baked into a crust. But those inclined toward the culinary will tend to prefer something made by hand, as opposed to something that comes with a crisping sleeve. It's hard, for some, to see the mass-produced as endearing.

All right; I'll quit taking up space in your comments section.

What a truly lovely article and sentiments - we might not all come up against the same thing but we do get the same question, "the person or the skin"...we love the soul we first met.

Loved your soul when I first met you . . . and knew then that you were someone special. This just proves that once in a great while I CAN judge character, wisdom, and the skin in which inhabits a huge heart. You and Vi shine on like crazy diamonds.

Are you claiming a female monopoly on Miss Austen? If so, I shall probably regard it as a challenge, and I'm sure most of the people who find my Austensplaining tiresome would back me to defeat any and all who stood against me.

Thank you for this sweet and rational article. I have a darling spouse who became a darling spousette too. I've had my quiet nervous breakdown and the need to tell my elderly mother, who said "Huh? I don't care. I only want you two to be happy." And among us we decided that the Jehovah's Witness contingent of the family could be left in ignorance where they prefer to dwell anyway.

We love each other more each day. And lucky for us, Sachi and I live in a place where no one gives us shit. We look like two 60 year old hippies with cute dogs! It's fun for us and fun for the dogs and fun for the neighbors who witnessed the transition. Who the hell should care anyway? Go Vi and Kelleen!

@6: That's a lovely coda to this delightful piece, Luisita. Thanks for sharing it.

Mr Vennominon @5, I think Kelleen was saying that straight men don't like Jane Austen. (Because if Vi was a woman, then her spouse "ought" to be a straight man, according to her dear old Dad.) I do know a couple of straight men who flout that stereotype, but it's certainly as true as the other stereotype she mentioned: that straight men tend not to look much like elves.

Ms Erica - Perhaps your interpretation is correct about what this author said, but I'm in the mood for a Splainoff.

And that assertion I'd challenge on facts. Miss Austen has a larger following among straight men than most great women writers, at least given the total volume of her output. The great female author who really somehow manages to scare off straight men is Mrs Woolf.

That reminds me that I have been sitting on a splendid Woolfsplaining quotation for the entire first half of the year now, and still Mr Savage has not printed a letter that suits it. If this goes on much longer, I might have to write said letter myself - for myself, not as myself, of course.