If you are a married person or planning to get married you will enjoy this little story that is titled “The Seven Stages of a Cold Marriage.” The story has been around for a long time and it illustrates the fact that in some cases the happy state of marriage goes downhill as time passes.
It does not have to be this way and there are some exceptions to the rule but the first few months of a person’s marriage are usually very happy times. Like many other things when the new wears off there is less excitement for it.
First year: The husband says “Sugar Dumpling I am worried about my baby girl. You have a bad sniffle and I am going to carry you to the hospital for a checkup and to get some rest. Your food will not be very good so I will have your meals brought in from the deli.”
Second year: “Darling, I do not like the sound of your cough. I have called Dr. Miller to come here. Now go to bed like a good girl just for your dear old papa.”
Third year: “Maybe you need to lie down Baby because there is nothing like some rest when you feel puny. I will bring you something to eat unless you have some soup in the house.”
Fourth year: “Let’s be sensible Baby. After you feed the kids and get the dishes washed you need to get in the bed for some rest.”
Fifth year: “Stop complaining so much. You need to get up and get yourself an aspirin.”
Sixth year: “If you would gargle or something instead of sitting around and barking in my face I would appreciate it very much.”
Seventh year: “For Pete’s sake please stop sneezing. Are you trying to give me pneumonia?”
If you are a married person I hope that you have one of the happiest marriages to be found anywhere, whether you have been married for three days or for fifty years. Marriage is one of the most basic of all institutions in our society. When marriage fails we all will lose because it affects the entire family and America is a land of families.
Let us all keep in mind that a successful marriage is built on a mutual trust, love and a lifetime commitment to each other. Someone said it best with these words, “Marriage is not looking at each other it is best if both husband and wife are looking in the same direction together.”
“Marriage is an arrangement instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity and for securing the maintenance and security of children.” – Noah Webster.
This past August 10 my wife Frances and I have been married for sixty-one years. The first three or four years were the hardest and that could be true in most marriages. I was twenty and she was eighteen when we got married.
