I usually try to keep personal stuff from this site since the internet is already overflowing with personal issues and BS. But I felt the need this time because one of the reasons that you are able to visit this site day after day, is partially due to a certain person. As horror fans, we have all had issues with being accepted for who we are. Usually the more hardcore you are, the more you stand out and are apart from the “normal” crowd. I had dealt with that for many years in my early teens. The one thing that Frankenstein’s creature wanted more than anything was a mate that wouldn’t look upon him like everyone else did, and accept him for who and what he was. I found that back in November of 1983, when I started to date Dawn Rausch. And within five years later, we were married on May 14th, 1988, and she officially became the Bride of Kitley.

Over these three and a half decades, she has never given me anything but support for my passion. Letting me take crazy road trips to conventions or film fests, investing probably more money than I should have into a collection of posters, books, and movies, and even playing hostess to crazy events that I plan for our home, even when comes to creating cakes decorated with jellyfish men or severed turkey heads, her support has never faltered. And never once in all of these years, has she ever tried to change who I was or what I crazy path I wanted to follow when it came to feeding my passion. Sure, she might not have the same level as passion for the genre as I do, but that makes it even more amazing that she puts up with me the way she does. I know she’d love to sit and watch films like Moulin Rouge or The Greatest Showman over and over again, but she still willingly sits with me to watch titles that range in quality and taste from the best of the best, to the bottom of the barrel.

It is so very easy to forget something as simple as this, especially being together as long as we have. And every day I try to understand how she does it… putting up with me and my crazy ideas. But she does and that makes me want to be like her. I’ve never known a person that puts everyone else before herself, almost to a fault. Her desire to make others happy is unstoppable and while it can drive me crazy every now and then, it has inspired me over these last 35 years to try and be more like her. Granted, this is no easy task, but she is always there as a reminder to sometimes not to be the asshole I usually am.

So to my bride, Dawn, I thank you for the last 35 years. For helping to make me the person I am, while pushing me to be who and what I want to be… when I finally decide to grow up. I couldn’t have asked for a better mate for this monster loving creature that I am. Love you. Always and forever.

Happy Anniversary.