Frodo saved more than just Middle Earth

Since our early days of courtship my wife has a habit of falling asleep during movies at home. Initially I was disappointed at finishing movies all by myself, especially when the movie in question was suggested by the sleeper in question. It didn't seem fair that if we were going to watch a period drama about the Trujillo dictatorship (In the Time of Butterflies), I end up the only witness to the traumatic murder of Salma Hayek's character. Marc Anthony's Lio? By all means. Rewind and rewind once more.

These experiences, and others like them made movie-watching seem like a bizarro version of sleepover where the last one awake was actually the loser.

With time, however, I have learned to suggest that a given movie would be cool for the both of us to see, knowing all along that it was a movie I wanted (next up: Tron). The disappointment is all but gone.
But now deception is unnecessary. In response to Jessica's persistence (which will likely aid in her childbirth), we began watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy on a nightly basis. The EXTENDED version at that. And does she sleep? Negative. She even asks questions:

-"Now who did the dwarves awake in the mines of Moria?"

- "Who are the Urukai?"

-"Did Arwyn just give up her immortality to Aragorn?"

I think it is also helping Jess overcome her fear of Gollum, which means I will be able to impersonate him freely by the end of the trilogy, an ability which up until this point has left me laughing but without affection from my wife.
I wouldn't have guessed that J.R.R. Tolkien would bring us closer as a couple.

But I am grateful.

And for his helping convert C.S. Lewis back to Christianity.