Endless Love: Marriage dead? Why?
Diablo2112's "RepGeek and the Single Guy" thread brought up some thoughts and varied ideas, but since it's closed, I can't add to it so I'm starting this one. Please jump in and let's discuss this, whether you're for or against it.
This is what I think about when I think of marriage:
My father, who was a very active man and even more so now, had a MASSIVE heart attack a couple of years ago. Being a daddy's girl, I still feel pangs of guilt because I wasn't there when it happened; I was out at a club with some friends. When I arrived home in the early morning, the house was empty and there was a note asking me to come to the hospital left by my mother and little sister. When I arrived at the hospital, I saw my dad who had always been so strong and fairly imposing, lying on a bed with every tube imaginable going into his body. It was such a demoralizing sight to see the man that had always loved and protected me in what was essentially a defenseless condition.
When family members and friends heard about my father's heart attack, they converged on the hospital like locusts. I come from a close Italian and Jewish family so we had relatives stacked to the rafters in our house for two weeks and no food after they all left. :D He had former and current clients, colleagues and even three or four old college buddies visiting him for probably three weeks. Each night, those people were gone. My mother called and canceled her patients and was by his bedside night and day, coming home only to shower and change clothes, something she only did once because she did not want to leave his side for even a minute. She stayed at the hospital for two weeks solid. My sister and I eventually packed her some clothes so she could remain with him; she said she couldn't leave him because he wasn't "out of the woods" yet, her place was by her husband's side until she was sure he was safe.
What I witnessed was loyalty, love and caring, 35 years of marriage worth. I'm not saying my parents are perfect or have "the perfect marriage," because the definition of that varies from couple to couple. But what I DID see was commitment and a shared history and future. A lifelong bond that we all should hope to someday have, if you don't already.
After the whole ordeal, when it was less of a touchy subject with him, my father took my sister and me out to dinner and we discussed that time period and how he felt. He said that it was a frightening time for him but the one thing he had, besides the doctors and G-d, was my mother and without her being there, he wouldn't have recovered as quickly.
A member posted this site, No Marriage, and one of the articles is this, F*cking decent mid-priced wh*res twice a week is less expensive than a wife. I would really like to see this wh*re care about you when times aren't so rosey and you aren't so tough.
