My parent's great marriage

My parents are celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary in less than a month (June 2, to be exact). Imagine, 38 years! Yehey! Woohoohoo! Clap clap clap!!! And I can see that they truly are happy. They have a great marriage! They’re still sweet to each other, and I see how much they value each other. It’s rare that they spend time away from each other. You’d think that considering the time they spend together, they’d be the type to get on each other’s nerves. But you know, they rarely, if ever, fight. And when they do have misunderstanding (as couples are wont to have), we hardly notice it. Never in my whole life did I ever hear them shouting at each other in anger.

Back then, there was a time when we were growing up, when my Dad lost his job. And my Mom had to be our family’s sole breadwinner. My Dad was the original “house-band”. That time, he did all of the household chores. No complaints. He cooked, he cleaned, he took care of us kids when we got home from school, basically everything a housewife is expected to do! Did you think that was reason for my Dad to feel less of a man? Not at all!

In this day and age, “house-bands” (or husbands who stay at home) is quite common. But years ago when I was growing up, this breed of men was virtually non-existent. My Dad explained it this way, since my Mom was working, he had to do his share, and if that meant taking care of the household chores, then he happily did it. He didn’t feel it was a chore. He did all those things because he loved us! Awww…

I learned from my parents’ great marriage to:
 Never take your partner for granted.
 Support each other whatever happens.
 Communicate and this doesn’t mean just talking, but listening, and sharing …
 Laugh! Laughter is an important component of marriage. In my parents’ case, they truly enjoyed each others’ company, and they made each other laugh.
 Show your love for your partner. And that doesn’t just mean PDA (public displays of affection) ha!


Do all of the above, and maybe being LUCKY in marriage doesn’t take luck at all. A good marriage, heck, a great marriage, is something we all dream of! But make no mistake, it takes a lot of work.

Another thing… Maybe it’s not just about finding the “right” person but being the right person yourself that someone should consider spending the rest of his (or her) life with…

Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle. ~ Amy Bloom

All married couples should learn the art of battle as they should learn the art of making love. Good battle is objective and honest--never vicious or cruel. Good battle is healthy and constructive, and brings to a marriage the principle of equal partnership. ~ Ann Landers

It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century. ~ Mark Twain

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~ Mignon McLaughlin

A good marriage is one which allows for change and growth in the individuals and in the way they express their love. ~ Pearl S. Buck

A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together. ~ Robert C. Dodds

Love is a flower which turns into fruit at marriage. ~ Finnish Proverb

That quiet mutual gaze of a trusting husband and wife is like the first moment of rest or refuge from a great weariness or a great danger. ~ George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds - they mature slowly. ~ Peter De Vries

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. ~ Simone Signoret

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~ Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

In a time when nothing is more certain than change, the commitment of two people to one another has become difficult and rare. Yet, by its scarcity, the beauty and value of this exchange have only been enhanced. ~ Robert Sexton

What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. ~ George Levinger

It's easy to understand love at first sight, but how do we explain love after two people have been looking at each other for years? ~ Author Unknown

A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. ~ Ruth Bell Graham