From William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5:
Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.
From Will Rogers:
Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.
From Jack Benny:
My wife Mary and I have been married for forty-seven years and not once have we had an argument serious enough to consider divorce; murder, yes, but divorce, never.
From Henny Youngman:
I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back.
From the wives:
The only one of your children who does not grow up and move away is your husband.
When a woman steals your husband, there is no better revenge than to let her keep him.
A lady inserted an ad in the classifieds: “Husband Wanted”. Next day, she received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: “You can have mine!”
I thought this a good day to put these jokes in, particularly because I am surrounded by family and not in the midst of any argument in particular.
There are many keys to a successful marriage. Of course, God is certainly the primary one. A primary devotion to God by both husband and wife is key to a successful marriage. But, note the quotes above. A couple of them are by humorists who were married for many years. So, why do they make the jokes they do?
Well, they have realized two of the keys to a successful marriage. One of them is the honesty to admit that every couple argues periodically. Even deeper is the admission that every couple argues vehemently periodically. Even C.S. Lewis, in his book The Horse and His Boy comments at the end how Sasha and Corin got married so as to be able to argue more conveniently. Such is the ubiquity of arguing in marriage. It is the couple who is unable to admit their arguments that is more likely to end up in marriage problems. Such a false facade cannot be kept up believably.
The second key is a sense of humor. The ability to laugh at oneself, the ability to laugh at each others’ mistakes, the ability to eventually see the humor in a situation is another key to a successful marriage. The humorists above, and other humorists I have heard, often tend to have longer marriages than the average couple in the USA, yet they are constantly and publicly making jokes about their spouse’s behavior and their own behavior. In many marriages that type of joking would not be well seen. But, where both spouses are able to learn that sense of humor, the result is a marriage that can persevere through many trials.
So, be honest about yourself, and learn to laugh at yourself for your mistakes, stupidities, and silly habits. Your marriage will last longer.
Hee hee.