I’ve {hoped} for someone like you. So, I changed a lyric, but this was the song the hubbs and I made our first dance. We both loved this song, but more, we knew that we were it for each other. I said many times after divorcing my first husband that I would never get married again. I said it often. I said it loud. I said it to anyone who would listen. But, I had a very, very bad experience in that relationship. When I met the hubbs, I often refer to him as the other half to my whole. He is what made me whole. To quote an incredibly cheesy line from a movie I think we all know, “You had me at hello.” I knew right away he was the person for me. I think he felt the same, because within a month he mailed me a Ring Pop (for the holidays) and said it was until he could get me a real ring. What can I say? The man has his moments. Remember, we met online, so I didn’t meet him until about a month after he had sent me the Ring Pop.
I was talking to a friend today about the idea I have been working on my doctoral thesis and if you have read any of my work you probably have heard me talk about the idea of disposable vs. forever relationships. My working thesis is The State of Relationships in Modern Society: Disposable vs Forever Relationships. In any case, this is someone who is quite a bit older than I am (I won’t say HOW MUCH out of deep respect for him) but, he has been married for a long, long time. I think 30 something years. So, naturally, I’m always curious when someone tells me this what their take/experience with relationships are and I questioned him. He replied to me, I’m an old- fashioned kind of guy. I believe I made a commitment and I’m going to see that commitment through. Beginning with the free-love movement, the divorce rate began to rise, and rise, and rise.
Is a move back to old-fashioned values what we need? I don’t know if that is necessarily true, although he would summarily disagree with me on this point. I think we’ve come a long way baby and we shouldn’t go backwards. However, looking for a significant other, which is what dating is, should not be approached like “a good first husband” or someone to take care of them. Marriage should not be entered into out of desperation, immaturity, or lustful desire. Marriage should be entered into because you have found that person you wanna go through life with, the awesome and the shit.
Because that’s what marriage is.
@drruth2point0- twitter
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Anna Levenson-Pintrest
Both of my parents were married 3 times. Dad stayed married until he passed away and mom has been single since I was a child. I didn’t have great role models for marriage. π I’ve been with my husband for almost 20 years. Married for almost 17. ‘The awesome and the shit’ is a perfect definition. You nailed it.
I love my husband and I know he loves me. Neither of us is perfect so why would we ever think our marriage would be?
In my opinion, people don’t understand how difficult it is to be married. It’s work. No one seems to like to think about it like that. When you’re all hot for each other you can’t fathom having to work at it from time to time. You can’t image that a person you are so utterly in love with will at some point annoy you to the depths of your core. π Ha!
Marriage is wonderful. I can’t fathom ever not being married to my husband.
You just have to be willing to work at it in the shit times because no matter how great your marriage is..there will be shit times.
Lastly…I know I’m blabbering here. I find it shocking how many couples don’t seem to like each other. They love each other, but there isn’t a deep seeded friendship. I think that’s key to any marriage surviving.
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No I love it! So glad you enjoyed it! My mother is on hubby #6, I feel you! I think the shit, makes the awesome MORE awesome π
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I agree.
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I honestly believe the new generation is going to make a lot of changes. At least, that’s my hope. I believe we should move forward rather than backwards but there is a lot to be said for the constancy people had in marriage “back then”. I just believe many of them were unhappy. So what we need now is constancy and happiness. π
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Truth! I made that point to my friend too . …people stayed very unhappy in some marriages. We can find the happy medium I think
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Absolutely! Great post! π
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This post set me on fire. So good! My mother is a psychoanalyst, so I pretty much sucked Freud and Jung from her breast, and I know a talented psych-person when I “read” one. You’re one of them. Can’t wait to read more of your work. I’m very deep into the relationship issue as well, and my goal is to explore the possibility of growing a relationship to maturity and depth without losing the spark, yes, the infatuation if you will. They say it’s not possible, I say it is, but it’s easier for lazy shrinks with more psychothrillers and popcorn under their belts than books and field work to guide a couple to separation then back to the thrill. I explore this a lot in my fiction, which is why my fiction is full of catacombs and cobweb and underground dungeons LOL. Love this blog, keep it up, Anna!
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Thank you so much!
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Do not know how technical you wish your thesis to be, but you might look at the data from the actuaries in the life insurance industry regarding long term relationships. (People who are married LTR’s have to have their insurance ranked differently because they live that much longer than others… …other factors apply, too: ownership of dogs (specifically dogs and not other pets), membership in a “caring community” (atheist lingo for Christian (and Jewish) Church (and Synagogue) goers), etc.)
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Good points!
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