Gratitude for Supportive Partners

I'm fortunate and thankful to have a supportive spouse. When I mentioned wanting to take up the uke, he encouraged me to do so. When I dragged my feet about purchasing my first uke, he made it my Christmas gift for that year and took me out shopping so I could pick out my own instrument. Well today he says to me, "I think it's time to put up some more instrument hangers. I think it would be really cool looking to have your uke collection displayed up on the wall." I guess I'll be reconfiguring our instrument wall once I have it repainted this fall. Then there is the pinup tattoo he's been planning to add to his ink collection. He's decided she needs a uke. How cool is that?!! Not to mention he puts up with hours of my practicing. I'm not musically inclined, a slow learner, and probably sing off key.

So I'm wondering how your significant other has supported you in your ukulele journey?

So nice !
My wife is very supportive too. She is playing guitar (well learning too) and tried to take the uke, as I had one unused. But size was too different from her guitar and she had to stay on her principal instrument. But we are planning a ukulele guitar duet (some day...)

It was easy for me with my wife and ukuleles, when I bought my blue dolphin I ordered a green one for her, when I bought the Eleuke she got a brand new Tanglewood concert, when I bought the Maton....... well that's still 600 dollars credit she has in her future uke account, I haven't found her anything comparable to that yet, but she actually loves playing the Maton and I'm really enjoying the Tanglewood since it got it's new Aquilas so it looks like a swap may be on the cards anyways.

I'm so lucky that she has fallen in love with Ukes too and has supported my UAS up to this point.

Dunno what she would say if I wanted a K brand, I may have to suggest a holiday to Hawaii so she can help me choose one, yeh that oughta do it lol.

Maybe it's because he's from a musical family. Maybe its because he favors the bass and they get by with 4 strings. Maybe it's because he's a pipe smoker, and they tend to slowly contemplate things. Maybe it's because he hated his dad's mandolin, but he's been pro-uke ever since that first look at a Koaloha neck. It was like uke solved all the problems in the mandolin, and made much more since that someone would actually play it.

He doesn't mind hearing the same thing over and over. It's just normal to him. But he doesn't want to learn new fingerings, and believes that if one plays one instrument, that the other person should play something else. It's a shame he won't give it a try, but he is completely supportive.

I feel bad when I read about unsupportive spouses and families.

This should do the trick.




I should also mention that "Moominland Midwinter" is still my favourite book, 46 years after first reading it.

My spouse is a peach.
He balances his enthusiasm for my four instrument mania with a good dose of logic -- enough to keep my UAS in check, thank goodness -- and he does it with an encouraging smile. We're both obsessive types. His passion is photography, mine at the moment is music making, and he understands how much time I spend playing.
Our family motto: Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

I am also blessed with a supportive husband. He is supportive almost to a fault...he never tells me no...and he really should sometimes.

The girlfriend is very supportive of all my hobbies- homebrewing, baking, cooking, and ukulele. However, she's more skeptical about having more than one uke. When I got the second one, she asked "what's wrong with the one you already have?" When I got the third one, her concern was more "Where are we going to find space for all these ukuleles." Last time I talked about a fourth one, she said "If you bring a fourth ukulele into this house it better play itself."

But, no, seriously, she is very supportive and lets me practice as much as we have time for.

My wife has been very supportive and is now getting the UAS thing. I was up to 6 ukes and am down to 3 with 3 of our freinds now playing the uke (or trying to play!) One was a gift and the other two are on loan, with an option to buy at a very reduced price if the uke bug bites them. She come to our little get togethers, holds a soprano and quitely plays a C chord (no matter the key). We all have fun and thats all that counts

Yep. Plus one on this. My wife has endured my various explorations, and when I mentioned that I wanted to bring on the uke, she said go for it. Her patience when I was fumbling around with mis-formed chords and strumming glitches was endless. And through it all she would point out where I was improving, rather than grabbing the low-hanging fruit of selecting one of the many areas in which I sucked. And there was (and still is) plenny of those.

Great gal. I was very smart to have married her.

My hubby is awesome. He even came to UWC! He "doesn't mind" the sound of the uke, so my practicing doesn't irritate him, and if it does he just puts on headphones and plays Xbox. As with most of my hobbies, he thinks it is a) a little silly, b) a little expensive, and c) mostly harmless.

I married up! In so many ways. He's da bomb.

My wife, not a musician at all, is very supportive. After the first couple of weeks of me getting it worked out, she started regularly asking for 'ukulele hour.' Now we try to spend a few hours a week, me sitting and playing, and her listening and sometimes singing along. Bliss.

My wonderful wife supports me in my playing and buying ukuleles - she knows how much it has improved my mental health after I couldn't play guitar anymore. It really helps that her father gave me my first ukulele. I now have 12 ukes. I mentioned wanting to sell a couple of them, and she told me that I can sell the one that I have a duplicate of. (The Epi Les Paul, which I have yet to list.) I am not allowed to sell any of the rest, even the one I Just Don't Play ("Because the laminated zebrawood just looks too nice!")

I, in turn, support her Yarn Acquisition Syndrome, to the point of buying knitting implements, yarn, blocking pads, storage boxes....

She often asks me to come and play while she sits and knots, and accompanies me to my monthly Uke Club meetings, knitting and singing while we all play. I haven't been able to get her to play, though - and she's the one that has had music lessons early in her life, including piano, clarinet, and guitar. I'm totally by ear.

Strange thing, though - she talking me into taking a class on spinning yarn in February, back when it looked like I'd be without use of my left arm for a while post-surgery. So I took the class. And ended up buying a wheel I described as: "All North American hardwoods - no laminates. Hand-made by a single gentleman in his garage in Toronto, so they take some time to get. The tension adjustment is a friction peg, based on the old wooden violin tuners. I sat down at the shop, and the dealer just handed me a handful of fiber, and told me to go ahead and play. Within seconds, I was totally comfortable, had the tension right where I wanted it, and started producing better product than I had on any other the other wheels I'd tried previously."

I think the last time I'd described something in this manner, it was a KoAloha Sceptre.

So she knits, I spin and play (although not simultaneously), and we have a grand old time.

Besides - she know where I try to sleep.

My wife of 42 years,always supported me in my guitar playing past,
and has done the same during the past few years since i got the
ukulele bug.Although a non player herself, she loves all types of music
(more than I do in fact!) and loves to hear it played by anyone,on any
type of instrument*

* Except probably the Bagpipes,which we have in common!

I am also very lucky to have a supportive partner. My wife convinced me to try ukulele, and took me to buy my first when she saw I was just over the moon about it. She is always encouraging me to play, to go to my weekly uke jam, and best of all every time I show her a vintage ukulele she says "I think you should go for it". I think that since she always tells me yes to buying vintage ukuleles, I usually don't end up buying them. Just knowing that I can get it if I want it makes me keep hunting for another without always needing to own them.

I LOVE when I am playing a song and she starts singing along. This past weekend, I was playing songs from the movie "Grease" and she joined right in. The best part was when we did a duet on the song "Summer Nights". She sang John Travolta's lines and I sang Olivia Newton John's lines and we laughed the whole time.

Thanks for starting this thread, it is really nice to hear such good things about relationships......I hear the worst all the time (I'm a Marriage and Family Therapist).

I had great support from my husband (once I compared it to having different bicycles). I have been buying, trying, reselling, consolidating and getting down to the keepers. I currently have 12 counting the cheap vintage wall hangers, but 4 are slated for tossing back into the river. He's okay with me buying as long as I am also selling, and I agree with that as I am trying to narrow my focus.

My wife hasn't left me yet.

webby said:

Dunno what she would say if I wanted a K brand, I may have to suggest a holiday to Hawaii so she can help me choose one, yeh that oughta do it lol.

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Smart man!

Ukeval - An ukulele and guitar duet sounds like a splendid idea. My husband plays mandolin and he's been dropping hints about how he'd like to work on a song together.

Webby - That is so cool how she and you are sharing the learning and love of the ukulele together. A trip to Hawaii sounds like a wonderful idea. You might need to work it into your travel budget for two K brands though, just in case y'know?

Plainsong - Those posts are a little saddening for me too, but they also help me appreciate what I have at home that much more.

The Big Kahuna - I'm not sure how your post relates to supportive partners, but I am a little (okay, a lot ) dense at times. It looks like a great series of books though. I wish I had known about Moominland Midwinter when my children were younger. I have a child who has a hard time relating to his peers and stories like these would have been a comfort to him.

luluwrites - A little reality check from time to time is a good thing IMHO. It sounds like you help balance each other out. And we have adopted "Go big or go home" as our unofficial family motto as of late.

Skitzic - Just enjoy it. He trusts you and your judgement. Maybe in return you might try not zapping him with the bug zapper the next time it occurs for you to do so?

MisterRios - Men who cook for their girlfriends/wives are the best! I'd totally be supportive if my man took up any of those hobbies. However, I'm afraid they'd have to cut a hole in my wall and roll me out of the house eventually.

Vanflynn - :agree: It is all that counts in the end. I love seeing couples who are joyful together.

PoiDog - She sounds amazing. You were smart to marry her. You must be pretty amazing yourself. I think women tend to be generous if they are getting their needs met.

Freeda - I agree; he is awesome. It was great meeting both you and he at UWC. I definitely saw a lot of love between you two. Sometimes just having someone who puts up with our idiosyncrasies is enough. I know mine puts up with a lot of mine.

Mattydee - It sure sounds blissful. What a beautiful way to share your uke experience with you!

Ksiegel - My husband kids about being my biggest enabler. He says he supports my passions, so he can get away with some of his.

Your description of your spinning wheel made me giggle, because it did sounds so much like you were describing a uke.

Luthien - Having the people we care about, enjoying the music we produce is the best we can hope for as musicians, I think. Also, I'm not a big fan of bagpipe music either. My husband has talked about taking it up in the past. I'm so relieved he decided to take up mandolin instead.

RyanMFT - I can totally picture the "Summer Nights" thing in my mind where John Travolta and Olivia Newton John are dressed as each other's characters, and it's a hilarious picture.

I couldn't do what you do. I think it would depress me too much. It is saddening enough to see so many of our friends lose the joyfulness they once shared as a couple.

Teek - My husband is a cyclist too. I once considered it weird why anyone would want more than one and was totally shocked they could cost more than my car at the time. Once he got me used to riding a decent bike with better components, I got it. Currently, I have one more than he does and I only ride a fraction of what he does.

Pootsie - :rofl:

tigersister said:

The Big Kahuna - I'm not sure how your post relates to supportive partners, but I am a little (okay, a lot ) dense at times. It looks like a great series of books though. I wish I had known about Moominland Midwinter when my children were younger. I have a child who has a hard time relating to his peers and stories like these would have been a comfort to him.

Click to expand...

Plainsong lives in Finland, so I'm assuming her husband is Finnish. Tove Jansson, who wrote the Moomin books, was also Finnish. As far as I can ascertain, Moomintroll (the little chap in the picture) never played Ukulele, that's just me and Photoshop. My post was something along the lines of "hey, your husband isn't into the Uke, but if you persuade him that Moomintroll played one, that might get his interest".