Marriage

I look down at my left hand many times a day, and it’s a constant reminder of a promise I made 8 years ago. 

The ring I see is a constant reminder of a promise to love my wife. However, there’s so much more to a marriage than love—there are many skills that my wife and I use daily.  

Marriage is the ultimate expression of the art of compromise. Things aren’t my way, they aren’t (always) her way; we compromise. I listen to her and respect her opinions, and she does the same to me. We talk about what we want to do at any given day. Sometimes I end up shoe shopping with her; other times, she ends up watching football with me. Some single friends of mine ask me “How do you do that? I hate shopping!” They’re missing the point. I do things with my wife not because I like to do all of the things she likes to do, but because I enjoy spending time with her and I’ve found that sometimes we deviate from our initial plan to do other things (volleyball, softball, bicycling, running, watching a movie, etc) that lead me to find other activities that I didn’t know I liked…but she makes me grow as a person.

The risk (going shopping with her) lead to multiple rewards (growing as a person; becoming more active; making more social connections). Marriage is a compromise that pays ongoing benefits.