Relationships can evolve, as do situations. My wife wrote off my preps as an obsession with camping gear (guilty) and mild paranoia (who, me?), but as time has gone on they have come in handy enough times that she rolls her eyes and allows it. Refused me a generator, though.

We lost power for a couple days due to Irene, and I had enough flashlights for everyone in the house to have 4, plus stored water, cooking alternatives, etc. I had no way to power the fridge (boo!), the freezer (bigger boo!), or the sump pump (yikes!). Our sump pump works a lot, and when a borrowed generator was needed to keep our (newly finished) basement dry, she saw the light and I have a new generator now. No fuss, no fighting.

Sometimes the right lesson needs to be learned before change can happen. Hopefully the lesson does not involve hip boots and bailing.