KristenBegins...

My grandparents on my dad’s side have been married for sixty-plus years. My other grandparents were married for 20 or so years, got divorced and re-married about 15 years later. They stay married until my grandfather died in 2002. The funny thing about my grandparents’ relationships is each one drives the other person nuts… but they love each other. And that’s enough.

I am here at my dad’s house for thanksgiving and I watch the interaction between my grandmother and grandfather and I wonder how it feels to have spent your entire life with just one person. My grandfather does everything for my grandmother. From helping her walk, to getting her meds, to playing the mediator when she thinks the world (or our family) is against her. At dinner, I asked them if they ever argue. My grandmother said, “All the time because he thinks he is right about everything and I KNOW I am right about everything.” It is funny to hear them argue over little things because I realize the same things they argue about now are probably the same things they argued over when they were just starting out. It is refreshing to know that stuff doesn’t change… but that you stick with it because at the end the commitment and life together means more.

So, in that spirit, I found these quotes on marriage that I like.

“Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without.”

“In every marriage more than a week old, there are grounds for divorce. The trick is to find, and continue to find, grounds for marriage.”

“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”

“I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone.”

“Someone asked me why women don't gamble as much as men do, and I gave the commonsensical reply that we don't have as much money. That was a true and incomplete answer. In fact, women's total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage.” ~Gloria Steinem

“To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.”