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It seems that left and right you hear all sorts of negative stories about marriage and how unhappy people are with their spouses. Especially on here...

 

So I'd like to see some happier stories, possibly to help cure my ever worsening cynicism lol. So...Men, what is so great about your wives? And women, what is so great about your husbands? I'd love to hear some positive things brought up about marriage for once.

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We've been together 25 years. Not technically married, but we have all the trimmings. Two kids, mortgage, pets, retirement plans - the whole shebang.

 

I think that the thing which best sums up our happy family life is that we laugh so often that our new bird has started imitating us. He even understands tone of voice and will laugh at something said in a lighthearted manner before the rest of us do.

 

I having a family where laughter is common.

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AMarriedMan
We've been together 25 years. Not technically married, but we have all the trimmings. Two kids, mortgage, pets, retirement plans - the whole shebang.

 

I think that the thing which best sums up our happy family life is that we laugh so often that our new bird has started imitating us. He even understands tone of voice and will laugh at something said in a lighthearted manner before the rest of us do.

 

I having a family where laughter is common.

 

One good thing about jokes and marriage is that you can have your favourite jokes numbered. To save your breath, you only need to mention the number. Your skill as a storyteller will determine how hard they will be laughed at. And it's easier to cram more of them into a sentence. :p

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I've been married to my wife for half my life.

 

It is work. Constant , everyday , every minute of work. Take it for granted, you see sheriff at your doorstep with divorce papers. :p

 

Both needs and wants have to fulfilled with genuine desire to do it , not out of obligation. Open , fearless , effective communication.

 

Love, compatibility , mutual trust and respect are some of the core foundations.

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It seems that left and right you hear all sorts of negative stories about marriage and how unhappy people are with their spouses. Especially on here...

 

So I'd like to see some happier stories, possibly to help cure my ever worsening cynicism lol. So...Men, what is so great about your wives? And women, what is so great about your husbands? I'd love to hear some positive things brought up about marriage for once.

 

My husband is kind and honest. He helps me get thru the bad times.

 

I do hope you meet someone who you can build a life with. Marriage is hard but worth the effort.

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We met later in life at a business card exchange being held in a bar. I was 39. He was 34. Neither had ever been married & we didn't have kids. I had a mini freak out early on as we got serious because if he married a woman 5 years his junior she's still be in her 20s.

 

 

My husband is the most loyal, steadfast, reliable guy ever. He's my rock. I'm an alpha female & can be handful. I always said I wanted a man who is strong enough to let me be weak. He always said he wanted a partner, not somebody who had to be coddled.

 

 

The first year of our marriage -- as we learned to function as a team -- was hard for both of us. We'd both been independent for so long. We did take a marriage counseling weekend about communication which helped.

 

 

I feel like our bond has gotten stronger over the years. We've had a lot of good times. We managed to live through major renovations on our house which was stressful & we've weathered the bad times. We both learned to turn toward the other for support & that has made a great deal of difference.

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So I'd like to see some happier stories, possibly to help cure my ever worsening cynicism lol. So...Men, what is so great about your wives? And women, what is so great about your husbands? I'd love to hear some positive things brought up about marriage for once.

 

Second marriage for us (our firsts would match many of the negative stories here).

 

 

This relationship is easy. We have been extremely compatible from the beginning in almost everything, so we truly enjoy spending time together, whether it's working on projects, traveling, or sex (lots and lots of great sex).

 

 

What's great about her (beyond the usual beauty and sexiness) is the intelligence, humor, and creativity she brings to everything - and especially to doing nice things for me.

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It seems that left and right you hear all sorts of negative stories about marriage and how unhappy people are with their spouses. Especially on here...

 

So I'd like to see some happier stories, possibly to help cure my ever worsening cynicism lol. So...Men, what is so great about your wives? And women, what is so great about your husbands? I'd love to hear some positive things brought up about marriage for once.

 

My husband is a very good man. He is kind, loving and has a huge heart.

 

When I met him, we were both in university. He was shy, "nerdy" and kind of quirky, and he had a great sense of humor. We might one night in a bar, when he saw that a friend of mine and I were being annoyed by two jerky guys who wouldn't go away, so he came over, started talking to me about one of our classes, and they left.

 

We ended up spending the night together at Tim Hortons talking until about six am. The next day, we were talking about getting married and got engaged, and we did marry, about two years later. ( yes, I know that sounds like a really foolish thing to have done...but it worked out for us)

 

20 years later, we are still together. I can't say it's all sunshine and roses, as that would be a lie, and besides, that's boring. We have three kids, and unfortunately, all of them have developmental or health issues, and a lot of the time, that is our focus. Our oldest daughter graduated high school with high honors, and she's just finished her first year of college, our "middle kid" is sorting through what she wants to take in university and our son is also doing well ( higher education may not be in the cards for him,but who knows? )

 

My husband has always been there for me, and while we did go through a really rough patch, we were able to work through it all and are happy together. I know you hear a lot about spouses being "best friends", that's us. It's weird, as a lot of the time, we don't even have to talk to say what we mean as we know each other so well.

 

My spouse is finally retiring from the army, and we're starting to make some long term plans, as we will finally be able to live somewhere for more than a few years.:D No more deployments, no more field exercises, no more cr@p! We'll work on getting our kids all "launched" ( at least our two oldest) and hopefully our son as well.

 

With any luck, ten years form now will find us living on a sunny beach somewhere in a little cottage, hopefully in Puerto Rico ( we visited the island a few years ago and I loved it) ( but it has to have wi-fi or at least an internet connection..one of us will still have to be working :D )

 

Our love for one another isn't about sparks or fireworks or anything like that, and it never was-I had that before with one guy, but once that died down, there was nothing left. It's about something deeper. It's like comparing "Cat in the Hat" to Shakespeare. I don't know how else to explain it, but when you find it, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Edited by wmacbride
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WaitingForBardot
One good thing about jokes and marriage is that you can have your favourite jokes numbered. To save your breath, you only need to mention the number. Your skill as a storyteller will determine how hard they will be laughed at. And it's easier to cram more of them into a sentence. :p

We do this! ..lol..

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It's actually nice to hear GOOD stories for a change. So many negatives on this board and IRL too. I have so many friends who just complain about their marriages/relationships that it makes me wonder sometimes about what the point is

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georgia girl

My husband is simply the strongest man I have ever known - in every sense of the word. Our story is a little unique. We were in our late 30's/early 40's when we met. Neither had been married before. We both had had relationships - some good, some bad - and were happy just going along and dating. Then, a year into our relationship, my husband had a cycling crash training for an event. In the rural area we lived in, he had to be evacuated by helicopter to the closest trauma center over an hour and a half away. He had gone over the handles of his bicycle and ended up with over 10 broken bones and emergency surgery. I was simply a girlfriend so when I found out about the crash, I had to drive to the trauma center without knowing if he was alive or dead. I knew he had head and neck injuries and I made a lot of deals with God on that trip that I would take whatever was left of him and help him to heal to the best of my ability if God just let me tell him that I loved him. You see, even though we had been dating for a year, we were both so skittish, we had never said those words to each other.

 

My husband survived but had to heal from incredible injuries. At first, he could walk to the end of the driveway, then a quarter mile, then six... today, he's back training for Ironman.

 

But it isn't just his endurance that makes him strong. Is that he was strong enough to let me help him without it demasculating him. He was strong enough to have a sense of humor despite pain. He was strong enough to admit he was scared and cry in front of me. And, to be honest, he was strong enough to stand up to me. Like Donnivan, I was always searching for that guy who could really do that. With my husband, it took three words, said quietly while he was holding m hand. There was no battle of wills. He stated his opinion and I recognized that he was strong enough to be fair and to be honest at the same time.

 

My husband is many things to me. He's my best friend, my lover, my confidant, my co-kitty parent... . But mostly, he is the one person I admire most.

 

Our story of healing ends nearly two years to the day after his crash. We got married on a hillside overlooking the valley where he still rides his bike today. As old folks tend to do, our ceremony was a little non-traditional. We wrote our own vows. My favorite? "I promise to put us first, but to never lose my sense of self."

 

That's what marriage is to me. Building and loving this life I've created with this man, but still being an individual and respecting him to be an individual as well.

 

GG

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One time I called my wife's sister (who lived next door at the time) on the phone and held my nose and 'may I speak to xxxx?' 'Yes this is Tom from the IRS, and I'm calling to inform you that you have been selected for a random audit. You will be contacted in the next few weeks by one of our investigators to answer some questions. '

 

If she wasn't over at our house freaking out within 5 seconds of that call I'd be surprised. Took her two days to get over it though lol.

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How to put into words something that is so ridiculously important in my life....

 

My W and I got married not long after high school for more or less all the wrong reasons. Things went downhill relatively quickly and it turned into more of a struggle than a marriage. We wasted so much time being angry and hurting each other. And yet for some reason we never really considered divorce. Sure we took turns threatening to leave but we never got around to it. I don't know if it was just pure bullheaded stubbornness or fear at the thought of proving various parents right when they said we'd never make it or maybe even somewhere deep down under the anger and hurt we really did love eachother.

 

18 years after we said our vows my W broke them. In her desire to feel wanted and happy and probably some desire to hurt me she found what she needed with some OMs online. Fortunetly our story did not end there.

 

In the 18 months since I found out what she was up to we have both made some incredible improvements. Through MC and IC and just plain talking to eachother we pulled through the A and are working hard at R.

 

I have learned to treat her with the love and tenderness that she has always deserved and have seen her truly flourish with the radical change in my behavior towards her. She now treats me with such respect, support, and caring that I am constantly amazed by her and inspired to do even more to show her how much she is loved. We have never been happier in our marriage and see in her everyday the energy and time that she invests in us to make sure that it gets even better.

 

We are still working to recover from how her affairs have affected me, her, and us, but we are both very hopeful that we will suceed and eventually be able to bury the old marriage that we had.

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How to put into words something that is so ridiculously important in my life....

 

My W and I got married not long after high school for more or less all the wrong reasons. Things went downhill relatively quickly and it turned into more of a struggle than a marriage. We wasted so much time being angry and hurting each other. And yet for some reason we never really considered divorce. Sure we took turns threatening to leave but we never got around to it. I don't know if it was just pure bullheaded stubbornness or fear at the thought of proving various parents right when they said we'd never make it or maybe even somewhere deep down under the anger and hurt we really did love eachother.

 

18 years after we said our vows my W broke them. In her desire to feel wanted and happy and probably some desire to hurt me she found what she needed with some OMs online. Fortunetly our story did not end there.

 

In the 18 months since I found out what she was up to we have both made some incredible improvements. Through MC and IC and just plain talking to eachother we pulled through the A and are working hard at R.

 

I have learned to treat her with the love and tenderness that she has always deserved and have seen her truly flourish with the radical change in my behavior towards her. She now treats me with such respect, support, and caring that I am constantly amazed by her and inspired to do even more to show her how much she is loved. We have never been happier in our marriage and see in her everyday the energy and time that she invests in us to make sure that it gets even better.

 

We are still working to recover from how her affairs have affected me, her, and us, but we are both very hopeful that we will suceed and eventually be able to bury the old marriage that we had.

 

You sir are an amazing and strong man. I admire you, to be honest I couldn't deal with infidelity like you described. I don't know how people get over that sort of thing. I feel like people who can come out the other side of these sorts of situations come much stronger. I wish I had that ability but I don't. I suppose I am very quick to shut the door on people so to speak.

 

I hope you and your wife have many happier years ahead together, you deserve it.

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GunslingerRoland

I've been with my wife for almost 20 years married for 3/4s of that. I love my wife and love my marriage. That isn't saying either are perfect (nor should I expect them to be). But I never consider for a second that any woman would make me happier than my wife does, or that I could be happier not married to her.

 

I love how much we support each other, I love how we try to do nice things for each other, and I love how we make each other better people. I love how we think alike even in the oddest ways.

 

On this forum I think the single biggest problem is that too many people expect perfection out of their spouse and out of their marriage. They can't forgive mistakes or even downright flaws. We are all flawed people and two flawed people will never make perfection.

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I've been with my wife for almost 20 years married for 3/4s of that. I love my wife and love my marriage. That isn't saying either are perfect (nor should I expect them to be). But I never consider for a second that any woman would make me happier than my wife does, or that I could be happier not married to her.

 

I love how much we support each other, I love how we try to do nice things for each other, and I love how we make each other better people. I love how we think alike even in the oddest ways.

 

On this forum I think the single biggest problem is that too many people expect perfection out of their spouse and out of their marriage. They can't forgive mistakes or even downright flaws. We are all flawed people and two flawed people will never make perfection.

 

 

I completely agree with you on the flaws part. It's something I struggle with myself. I know how immature it can be to hold people's flaws against them but I do it. I want to be different but I don't know how to rewire my brain to work differently. For some reason when someone does something that bugs me, it festers inside me. I can just be so irritated with people. Then I project that onto others and I believe others to have the same mindset that I do and it makes me very unsociable lol

 

It's probably a good thing I am single lol

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Where to start. My wife and I have been together since 2000. I thought I'd impress her with my spanish skills and we took the copper canyon train in Mexico. It goes along the edge of Mexico's equivalent of the grand canyon. Then we went from Los Mochis (where they caught El Chapo) to La Paz by boat in Baja California. When I asked when the boat left my spanish failed me and we missed it. We had enough money to fly 2 hours from the border but ran out and Western Union does not work on time there. Ended up staying with a farmer who lost his farm because of NAFTA but kept his house. He fed us until the money arrived and wanted nothing. I stuck the $120 the hotel charged where he worked in his glove compartment when he was filling his car. She was a trooper. I knew I had a winner. She also had me pull over every time a turtle was trying to cross the road to make sure it got to the other side. Bottom line her foundation was solid. After 17 years it just gets better. I will have to say I had my head up my ass and didn't realize what I had but after having kids and seeing what a great Mom she is while still being a great wife I finally pulled my head out of my ass and realized how good I have it. I've had what is close to a high school crush for over 2 years. Google crush on wife after 15 years and you get nothing. I've got more than something. I don't think I could have done better. She says the same about me but I still think I out traded her. Take your time and find the right one. The problem is you don't know until many years later.

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wmacbride
Where to start. My wife and I have been together since 2000. I thought I'd impress her with my spanish skills and we took the copper canyon train in Mexico. It goes along the edge of Mexico's equivalent of the grand canyon. Then we went from Los Mochis (where they caught El Chapo) to La Paz by boat in Baja California. When I asked when the boat left my spanish failed me and we missed it. We had enough money to fly 2 hours from the border but ran out and Western Union does not work on time there. Ended up staying with a farmer who lost his farm because of NAFTA but kept his house. He fed us until the money arrived and wanted nothing. I stuck the $120 the hotel charged where he worked in his glove compartment when he was filling his car. She was a trooper. I knew I had a winner. She also had me pull over every time a turtle was trying to cross the road to make sure it got to the other side. Bottom line her foundation was solid. After 17 years it just gets better. I will have to say I had my head up my ass and didn't realize what I had but after having kids and seeing what a great Mom she is while still being a great wife I finally pulled my head out of my ass and realized how good I have it. I've had what is close to a high school crush for over 2 years. Google crush on wife after 15 years and you get nothing. I've got more than something. I don't think I could have done better. She says the same about me but I still think I out traded her. Take your time and find the right one. The problem is you don't know until many years later.

 

I love the way she stopped for the tortoises.

Your wife sounds like she has a huge heart and is a very loving, fun to be with perosn.:)

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I love the way she stopped for the tortoises.

Your wife sounds like she has a huge heart and is a very loving, fun to be with perosn.:)

 

Wmacbride,

I can't do her justice in a few sentences. She's beautiful to. Clothes are a blessing to most people but she looks even better without them. We had the best conversation the other night while taking a bath and I was blown away as much by what I heard as what I saw. I used to think I was a good judge of character but in 2 minutes she can figure out what someone is about while I have to figure it out the hard way 6 months or however many years down the road it takes there true colors to come out. Now I just defer to her. I know it's shallow but we can watch Survivor and she can tell you who is going to vote out who and I don't have a clue. Same thing with movies. She can see what is coming early where I have to wait until the movie is over. What I really can't figure out is how she picked me. I'm also constantly pleasantly surprised as I get to know her better. The basis of who she is was there when I met her at 22 but what she has turned into at 39 as she has evolved has been delightful to witness and be a part of. Luckily I'm 8 years older so I should die first in theory. It really has been great and the crazy part is I was against getting married as soon as we did. I could go on which is another thing I love about her but I'll spare everyone and keep it brief but your summation of her in your quote is correct. Thanks.

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kiss_andmakeup

My husband is my favorite person in the entire world. I admire him, respect him, and adore him. In him I've truly found that mystical hybrid of best friend and romantic partner. He always considers my feelings before his own, is always thoughtful, helpful, supportive, and loving. When I mess up, he's sweet rather than berating. He's funny and can always pull me out of a slump. He's up for anything, whether it's trying a new restaurant, seeing random band, or traveling to an unusual destination.

 

He makes it so easy to be all of those things right back to him. It is so fulfilling to be there for him emotionally, physically, romantically. We both give 100% and it makes things borderline effortless.

 

On the surface he is the complete package - handsome, successful, and intelligent. But those things aren't even my favorite of his qualities. He is the best partner I could ever have hoped for. I realize 6 years isn't an incredibly long time, but I continue to be blown away that things just keep getting better and better. I love him more every single day. It sounds cheesy, but I am being 100% honest.

 

Try not to let yourself get bogged down in the negativity here. Keep in mind that this is an advice forum. People don't come here to start threads about their happy, healthy marriages...they come here to ask for help when things are bad. LS is not representative of the married population as a whole.

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todreaminblue
One good thing about jokes and marriage is that you can have your favourite jokes numbered. To save your breath, you only need to mention the number. Your skill as a storyteller will determine how hard they will be laughed at. And it's easier to cram more of them into a sentence. :p

 

 

saying just the number of the joke in public could be like an understood secret shared...hee hee ....love that idea......savin it.....deb

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todreaminblue
My husband is a very good man. He is kind, loving and has a huge heart.

 

When I met him, we were both in university. He was shy, "nerdy" and kind of quirky, and he had a great sense of humor. We might one night in a bar, when he saw that a friend of mine and I were being annoyed by two jerky guys who wouldn't go away, so he came over, started talking to me about one of our classes, and they left.

 

We ended up spending the night together at Tim Hortons talking until about six am. The next day, we were talking about getting married and got engaged, and we did marry, about two years later. ( yes, I know that sounds like a really foolish thing to have done...but it worked out for us)

 

20 years later, we are still together. I can't say it's all sunshine and roses, as that would be a lie, and besides, that's boring. We have three kids, and unfortunately, all of them have developmental or health issues, and a lot of the time, that is our focus. Our oldest daughter graduated high school with high honors, and she's just finished her first year of college, our "middle kid" is sorting through what she wants to take in university and our son is also doing well ( higher education may not be in the cards for him,but who knows? )

 

My husband has always been there for me, and while we did go through a really rough patch, we were able to work through it all and are happy together. I know you hear a lot about spouses being "best friends", that's us. It's weird, as a lot of the time, we don't even have to talk to say what we mean as we know each other so well.

 

My spouse is finally retiring from the army, and we're starting to make some long term plans, as we will finally be able to live somewhere for more than a few years.:D No more deployments, no more field exercises, no more cr@p! We'll work on getting our kids all "launched" ( at least our two oldest) and hopefully our son as well.

 

With any luck, ten years form now will find us living on a sunny beach somewhere in a little cottage, hopefully in Puerto Rico ( we visited the island a few years ago and I loved it) ( but it has to have wi-fi or at least an internet connection..one of us will still have to be working :D )

 

Our love for one another isn't about sparks or fireworks or anything like that, and it never was-I had that before with one guy, but once that died down, there was nothing left. It's about something deeper. It's like comparing "Cat in the Hat" to Shakespeare. I don't know how else to explain it, but when you find it, you'll know what I'm talking about.

 

:love::love::love: i love your story...i actually love this thread.....hopeless romantic hear needing oxygen of real life love.......please stay on loveshack when you move to that island.....i want to hear futuristic robinson crusoe stories you two together.....deb....

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todreaminblue

 

My husband survived but had to heal from incredible injuries. At first, he could walk to the end of the driveway, then a quarter mile, then six... today, he's back training for Ironman.

 

But it isn't just his endurance that makes him strong. Is that he was strong enough to let me help him without it demasculating him. He was strong enough to have a sense of humor despite pain. He was strong enough to admit he was scared and cry in front of me. And, to be honest, he was strong enough to stand up to me. Like Donnivan, I was always searching for that guy who could really do that. With my husband, it took three words, said quietly while he was holding m hand. There was no battle of wills. He stated his opinion and I recognized that he was strong enough to be fair and to be honest at the same time.

 

My husband is many things to me. He's my best friend, my lover, my confidant, my co-kitty parent... . But mostly, he is the one person I admire most.

 

Our story of healing ends nearly two years to the day after his crash. We got married on a hillside overlooking the valley where he still rides his bike today. As old folks tend to do, our ceremony was a little non-traditional. We wrote our own vows. My favorite? "I promise to put us first, but to never lose my sense of self."

 

That's what marriage is to me. Building and loving this life I've created with this man, but still being an individual and respecting him to be an individual as well.

 

GG

 

beautiful i love your vows ...very special...and succinct....:love::bunny::bunny: ...deb

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