Vise/Verses

I have been marry going on 19 years now. As a matter of fact our 19^th wedding anniversary was less than three days away and I already got Madeline, her anniversary gift. I stopped counting after the hardest year of our marriage that being the 2^nd year. Or maybe it was after we shared the birth of our first child of 11.

That second year of marriage was in many ways very challenging because we were still learning one another’s likes and dislikes. People always asked the two of us how did we last so long. The  Average Length of Marriage In the U.S. On average, the typical U.S. marriage that ends in divorce lasts just seven years.

The story my wife Madeline likes to tell anyone who will listen that it is me who is always late and it is she who is always waiting impatiently. Her first story she starts with is the time I was late taking her to the hospital to deliver our 3rd child Cindy Lou. She said that I had forgot to pack a jar of Bayer Aspirins she would need to have after the baby was born. In truth the aspirins were for him as he searched and searched for about 40 minutes while my water broke. Eventually he found them in his shirt pocket and I was standing there holding the car keys in which he would have claimed to have misplaced.

Looking back in time, it was he who was late for our first date. I forgave him because he was so nervous that he buttoned up his out of season Hawaiian shirt wrong. I believed him when he said that he couldn’t quite figure out what shirt to wear.

He had me waiting at the altar on the day we were supposed to get married. That day he was so nervous that he got lost on the way to the chapel.

After a few glasses of wine at a party my wife Madeline will tell other couples about our secret to a successful marriage. She shouts in truth that opposites do attract. Then she adds that it has been said that the happiest couples never have the same character and that we just have the best understanding of our differences.

My husband Ranford likes rock and roll and I like opera music. Ranford likes to bowl and I like bingo. I like watching action packed movies like Mission: Impossible and he likes romantic silly movies like While You Were Sleeping. I leave the toilet seat closed and he likes the lid open. Ranford likes to do the cooking and cleaning while I fuss about taking out the trash. I’m a sports fanatic and he collect Star Wars junk. He’ll just wink at me when he knows I’ve had enough to drink. I just know when he’s ready to leave an affair. We never go to bed without resolving an issue big or small. Once we stayed up for 5 days because we couldn’t agree if we wanted anymore children. Of course I got my way because of the 5 days of making passionate love together.

Around about our 5^th year of marriage I stopped counting after that year especially when my husband came up with the brilliant idea of loving rituals we’ll practice each and every day. To test him on the first night before bedtime I started putting wrinkle cream on his face and every day, he emails me ‘Opera Songs of the Day,' which we call O-SODs. I tell him how handsomely slim he has gotten and he tells me how beautifully pleasantly plump I have gotten over the years. When the kids hear that kind of talk they know what time it is for the two of us. He hugs me before going off to work and I have to push him out the door or he’ll be late. Every night, even if he or I have to worked out of town we talk about our day at work, our concerns, our future, and pretty much anything else we want to get off our chests. It is our special moments where we are spending quality time with each other and are most relaxed.

One day my very seldom nonalcoholic drinking husband Ranford got drunk at a party and when we got home he said that he loved me so much that he would drink my bath water. After I filled the tub because I was pretty tanked myself, I promised to kiss the ground he walked on. The funny thing about that night is we never forgot what we’d really do for one another drunk or sober.

When Ranford insist upon not putting the cap back on the tooth paste I just brought him his own. When I liked using his old Spice. He brought me my own.

My eyes still light up like a Christmas tree every time I see Madeline no matter how long ago it has been. There could be a room full of various people and she’ll whisper in my ears that she only has eyes for me.

Most couples my think what we do or share is corny but it works for us. When the weather permits we’ll take a 5 to ten minute walk and in the early stages of our marriage we often made the children join us. We still hold hands in and out of the king size bed. The size of the bed is vital. Madeline likes to sleep sideways and me in one spot.

On one of our anniversaries I brought her, her own blanket set. We fold them  up each morning and place them in the Roma Tufted End of Bed Storage Ottoman Oyster made by Dorel Living at the foot of the bed. She purchased for me The Good Morning Snore Solution mouthpiece. I did one better and brought the sleep number flex fit smart adjustable king size bed.

You have to learn to compromise on a daily basis if you want your marriage to last until death do you part.

The morning of our 19^th anniversary wasn’t different than any other Sunday we purposely overslept, except that up under my pillow I discovered a coffee cup depicting my favorite cartoon character Yogi Bear. She was surprise to find the plaque I had made in which read:

19 Years of Uninterrupted Marriage

6,940 Days

166,560 Hours

9,993,600 Minutes

559,616,000 Seconds

Together and Still Counting…

I’ll Probably Have You Waiting For Some Reason or Another The Next 100 years.