Do you have a collection or decor item that you really enjoy but your spouse dislikes/despises? I think a lot of people can answer a resounding "YES" to that question.

Perhaps it's a comfy chair better left on the front porch of your fraternity house. Maybe it's a childhood keepsake that you love to proudly display, but your spouse would rather not admit you own. Or maybe it's that talking fish you'd like to marvel at mounted above your mantle, but there is no chance your significant other will remain married to you if it ever sees the light of day (give me back that Filet-O-Fish, give me that fish).

In our case the collection in question happens to be bobbleheads. More specifically, it's my collection of every Washington Nationals bobblehead that has ever been given out since the Nationals began playing in Washington, D.C. in 2005. If you just said to yourself "wow, Alex is sort of obsessed, a little bit juvenile, and certainly weird," it's a fair assessment that I won't argue with you about.

I bring up this rather sensitive subject now because a rare event occurred last weekend. April 14th was Stephen Strasburg bobblehead day at Nationals Park. Oh yeah, it was an event.

I have to admit, I'm a collector. I've been collecting various things since I was a young kid. Baseball cards, football cards, Garbage Pail Kids, Star Wars toys and replica props (nerd alert), and various sports memorabilia. Wendy says I'm a hoarder, but I feel that label is a bit severe for an aficionado such as myself. Since we moved in together nearly 12 years ago we've compromised on many things, and I've slowly been shown the error of my ways. Perhaps trying to proudly display everything I collect is "tacky" or "cluttered" and "unattractive," but it was the way I knew from childhood, and I needed to be broken of this habit like a wild horse needs to be broken for a saddle. Thanks to Wendy ("the Alex Whisperer") I now know that to truly appreciate these things in a tasteful way, some moderation is required. She's a wise woman, that Wendy.

My room once looked like a low budget sports card store with framed stadium posters all over the walls. My most valuable and cherished baseball cards were displayed on shelves, sitting there for all guests to appreciate. 

Jerseys and baseballs littered the room in a seemingly random order, no priority, no aesthetic, just there, acting as sentimental clutter.

Yes folks, that's the room of an adult man-child, a 24 year old version of myself. I think if I were left to my own devices, my house would look an awful lot like Jimmy Fallon's place in Fever Pitch, just with Indians and Nationals stuff, not all of that Red Sox garbage. :-)

I have to give Wendy a ton of credit, I know how much this...ahem...affliction of mine must have driven her nuts, and she patiently and gently helped me see a better way to handle my collections. Slowly over several years she would help me to arrange things in a more visually pleasing manner. This often meant putting away many of the things that were typically stuffed onto shelves without an inch to spare. Essentially, Wendy was acting like a home stager for my collections, removing two thirds of what I had so that I could appreciate the important remainder. Again, "the Alex Whisperer" at work.

I think Wendy will be the first to admit, I've done pretty well since those early days. I still collect things that are important to me, but it isn't nearly like what I used to do. When I do add something to my collections, I either find storage for them or allow them to replace something else that's already out. But sometimes, and I mean only a very rarely sometimes, I have a bit of a relapse, and it usually has to do with bobbleheads.

Yes, those hydrocephalic caricatures of major league baseball players and mascots get me every time. I want them all and I want to show everyone I have them all. When you're a Nationals fan the fact your shelves are stocked with these nodding fools shows the pain and suffering you've endured rooting for last place teams that have frequently been the worst team in all of baseball.