My aunt’s favorite quote is: “I’m an excellent house keeper. Every time I get divorced, I keep the house.”
Which explains my uncles favorite quote: “Ah yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning, to rip out a man’s genitals through his wallet."
My aunt and uncle have been married for as long as I can remember. And they’ve hated each other for a slightly shorter amount of time than that. Thanksgiving is lovely of course. Get the wine flowing and soon you’ve got ‘the conversation’ flying back and forth between the two love birds.
“You know he’s cheating on me right?”
“Have another drink my bride.”
“Oh don’t have another drink me, you Michael Bolton wannabee. Let the hair go already.”
And so it goes. Love at it’s all time most glorious.
Which leaves me wondering, why exactly am I so intent on getting married? I mean, I know tons of married folk. And none are topping my list of happiest couples. In fact, the happiest couples I know at this point are the ones that are separated by circumstances well within their control. They just choose to be apart most of the time -- maybe not geographically in different places -- but still apart. Work keeps them apart, then after work activities keep them apart, then different television schedules keep them apart. But trust me, most of them are going on 10 years or more and they are ‘happy.’
People tend to love best when they are miles away.
I know couples who have been married thirty years, and then the minute they decide to retire and enjoy their money, the first thing they end up doing with it is splitting it in a divorce. Once they are forced to deal with each other, all bets are off.
So that’s the key. Be yourself … just don’t spend enough time around your significant other to let them figure out who you really are. And if you catch wind that they are starting to suspect, TIVo some Law and Order and put some distance between the two of you.
After all, marriage is grand. But divorce is 50 grand.
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Why is it every single person knows only unhappily married couples? This makes single people so negative about marriage.
ReplyDeleteI love being married. I love my husband more everyday. I love my daughter. I love that we are not the perfect couple but perfect for each other.
People who get married but can't truely communicate or relate are the ones that just stick it out til the kids are grown or they retire. I feel sad that they aren't happy but mostly I feel indifference because they chose each other.
As a woman on her second marriage, I am not holier-than-thou just learned-my-lesson. If you are not happy single you will not be happy married. Only you can make you happy, cliche but true.