Marriage in the 21st Century . . . is it Really Worth it?

Who needs marriage anyways when there’s options.

When I got married, it was the happiest day of my life; the only event surpassing my marriage was the birth of my daughter. These two days will forever live in infamy.

Growing up in the seventies and early eighties, the only marriages I was exposed to were The Brady Bunch (reruns), The Partridge Family, The Walton’s, and Little House on the Prairie. There were My Three Sons, Leave it to Beaver, and Father Knows Best . . . all were before my time though. And there were my parents.

They stayed true to their vows, ‘till death do you part, just like the Cleavers and the Brady’s. My parents raised four boys and that was no small feat.

My mother would rise and shine every morning; she grew up in a big family (eight brothers and sisters) in the West Virginia mountains so this was nothing unualfor her; she made breakfast for her family. When my father left for work, our mother got us ready for school and saw us off. Later on, she drove us to school and picked us up.

During the day, her only break came when she got to watch a few hours of tv. Her shows were “The Price is Right,” “The Young & the Restless,” and “As the World Turns.” These were her gateway shows to “Dallas” and “Knots Landing” in the evenings.

After her television break, she made sure the house was clean and she shopped for groceries a few times a week; she was amazing with coupons. She paid the bills and negotiated with the “bill collectors” when we were short on money; she was a genius when it came to floating checks.

In the evening she had dinner cooked for us . . . every day. Everything she cooked was fresh; she didn’t believe in pre-packaged foods. My parents were the model I based my marriage on. But times changed drastically between the time I grew up and the time I got married.

Unlike my parents, my father worked Monday through Friday and had weekends off; my mother didn’t have to work although she did baby sit the neighbours children on and off for extra cash in the summer months.

Me and my wife worked. We had to if we wanted to raise our daughter and live a half-decent life. She worked nights and I worked days…