marriage

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Seth Adam Smith Says Marriage Isn’t For You

November 3, 2013 at 11:34 pm , by 

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The 1st and 2nd Half Of My Marriage, So Far

I have now been married 6 years. That time frame can be easily and interestingly divided in half.

6 Year Wedding Anniversary Lake Tahoe

The first half of that dichotomy was where as a married couple, my wife and I had not yet learned the hard way regarding finances.

We kept digging ourselves deeper in debt, on top of school loans, cars, and our nice wedding. Those were also the days we still ate at restaurants, too; which sucked up around $80 each week.

Also during that 1st half of our marriage, our son was born, and we moved away from our big city full of good jobs (Nashville) to my small hometown, where it was difficult to find a job at all.

And now for the 2nd half:

Three years through our now 6 year marriage, we moved back to Nashville, got good jobs again, and a year later, were finally out of debt. We’ve been saving our money ever since.

And let me tell you, we are not the same people we were before. We were forced to learn to become tightwads.

So now here we are, married 6 years, and the 2nd half of our marriage, in hindsight, has by default, been better.

These past 3 years have gotten us to so much better of a place in life. Granted, it’s contrasted to the first 3 years in which we lived in ignorant bliss.

In theory, life is more fun when you’re unaware of your responsibilities and the consequences of poor decisions which you didn’t realize were poor decisions at the time.

It’s sobering to realize that life has to be so much more serious than I had planned for it to be. I used to be so carefree.

The important thing is, my wife and I had each other to depend on through all we’ve learned together so far.

When I think of the “for better or worse” part of the marriage vows, this is the kind of stuff I think about.

The challenges we’ve conquered together (like learning how to strictly manage our money) weren’t fun to live through, but they made us better people.

So really, it’s not “for better or worse.” It’s for better and worse.

And in the strangest way, I actually see the romance in that.

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The Real Threat To The Sanctity Of Marriage

May 11, 2012 at 9:31 pm , by 

17 months.

I don’t feel threatened by how the government defines marriage because I firmly believe in the importance of separating church and state. Do certain conservative believers in the Christian god have exclusiveness over the right to marriage, as recognized by the American government? If so, then it’s time to start converting any non-Christian couples before they wed. There is marriage as recognized by the nation I am a citizen of; then there is marriage as recognized by the particular religious faith I belong to. Two separate things… and the first one is not something I’m too concerned with. Though it makes me feel good that my wife took my last name. It’s actually pretty funny to me when the same people who complain about the Ten Commandments not being displayed in government buildings can not even name all ten of the commandments. And I always think it’s ridiculous when I hear that “they took prayer out of schools.” No. No they didn’t. (I’m assuming “they” is referring to Communists and this is the year 1985?) As the dad of a toddler and the husband of a Christian woman, I pray while holding them both each morning before we go our separate ways for the day. When my son Jack goes to his daycare, I don’t expect them to have prayer for him there. If I want to teach my son to pray or to learn the Ten Commandments, then it’s my responsibility as his dad to teach him in my home. I laughed pretty hard recently when I heard a guy complaining about the Presidential support of “legalizing gay marriage,” saying that it threatens the sanctity of marriage and the future of America. The most obvious reason his viewpoint was invalid is because he unashamedly admits to watching pornography regularly and says there’s nothing wrong with flirting with other women in bars because at the end of the night he’s not going home with them, he’s going home to his wife. Here’s what I know: I’m protecting the sanctity of my marriage by loving my wife the best way I know how. That includes not coveting other women, keeping strong and open communication with my wife, spending quality time with her, and being the best dad I can be to our son. Oh, and prayer, too. But not the kind endorsed by the government… because, you know, the government took away prayer from us. Here’s the video I stole from a friend on Facebook that inspired this article. Now handing the mic to Julie Borowski:

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Choosing to Love Unconditionally in Marriage

Ten months.

I can think of three universally recognizable examples of unconditional love: God and man, parent and child, and dog and owner. But what about whom you marry? Is that unconditional love?

Isn’t that sort of the whole concept of marrying someone? To choose to unconditionally love a person you wouldn’t otherwise love to the point of “no matter what?”  To me, that’s the most romantic thing a person can do. Even stripped of emotion and sentimentality, marriage is/should be mutual unconditional love at its finest.

And maybe that’s one of the reasons that marriage isn’t as easy as a lot of people may assume going into it. Instead, marriage is an ongoing process of mutual maturity. Marriage causes people to see how hard it can be to live with even themselves, from the perspective of someone who happens to love them unconditionally.

To love someone unconditionally means there is nothing that that person can do to cause them to fall out of ultimate favor with you. Sure, some days it’s easier than others, but that falls under the whole “for better or for worse” part of the wedding vows.

Actually, for a human being (outside of the parent/child relationship) to love another unconditionally is one of the biggest paradoxes I can think of. But it helps to put things in perspective by turning the tables: I, myself, want to be unconditionally loved.

I want to know there is a person who doesn’t judge me when I’m not in the room, but at the same time is brave enough to tell me directly and privately how I can improve as a person, in both big and small ways. I want to know there is a person who understands me, or at least puts up with me, when I’m being weird or simply not myself.

So maybe choosing to love another person is challenging, but for me, the bigger challenge was finding someone who would love me unconditionally. Thank God, that’s exactly who I found.

 

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The Legend of the Happily Married Man

September 30, 2011 at 10:01 pm , by 

Ten months.

I am the kind of person who will go to quirky extremes to accomplish a mission that I have set my heart upon. In the process, that may mean that I am seen as fanatic, arrogant, or simply removed from reality and relevance. This is because I believe that often in life, it’s the little things we take for granted that can ultimately throw everything off whack. So I pay very close attention to those seemingly insignificant details and live my life accordingly.

Therefore, I am not a husband who will ever be quoted as saying, “Well I can look at the menu, can’t I?” as a justification to “appreciate the beauty” of another woman. It’s one thing to acknowledge another woman is attractive when someone asks me, in general; but that’s not what I’m referring to.

I’m talking about being out at a public place, hanging out with other guys, and the conversation turns to the body of the 22 year old waitress.Or observing the way other male coworkers lose their focus every time the Jane Siegel of the office (a reference to the 2nd season of Mad Men) walks by. I simply refuse to contribute in those situations.I am a happily married man and that means something to me.

It means that I don’t need to try to answer any subconscious questions in regards to my ability to woo a woman other than my wife.It means I will respect the sanctity of my marriage and the integrity of my family; not letting my guard down, even on account of an innocent look or a thoughtless comment regarding another woman.

Why would I need to “look at the menu” when I’ve already got everything I want in my wife? Part of the positive re-branding of fatherhood involves a deliberate campaign to view every other woman simply as another woman- not an object of desire. A man I would aspire to be like is a man who respects his wife even when she’s not around. So that’s the kind of man I choose to be.

I wear a wedding ring. Therefore, that dominates the messages I send to other women. My conversations with them will accordingly be intertwined with mention of my wife and son; so that even if I didn’t have a wedding ring, the message would still be clear how much I value my marriage- and how not interested I am in looking at any other items on the menu.