Twenty Nine Years And Counting

How about those Chiefs! Last Sunday, like every Sunday during football season my family got together for the game. But man, to actually win one was way cool. I’m not going to get all sappy here today, but have you ever heard the song “From My Front Porch Looking In” by Lone Star? Well, I had one of those moments during the game.
I was making a Pepsi run, which means I was the only one not to lazy to go out to the back porch and open the cooler. On the way back inside, I stood by the back door for a while just watching. My grand daughter was chasing my grandson across the living room, he had jumped up on the couch, bounced a couple times, bounced back to the floor and took off running with my grand daughter right behind him. My brother was giving my wife a hard time. She was yelling at him to shut up. I watched my daughter throw a pillow at someone, I couldn’t tell who she was throwing it at, but it soon came back her way. My 22 year-old son, who hates football was rolling his eyes. My 17 year-old son was lying down on the living room floor just wishing everybody would shut up. I’m not sure what play I missed, but all the sudden, my daughter was yelling “hell yeah!” They were all hooping and hollering, then came the ritual high-five.
I was just standing there amazed at how my family has grown over the years and thinking how lucky I am to have them when my wife came out to the kitchen and nudged me back to the real world in her usual, subtle way. In her sweet, almost angelic voice, she said, get back in here you old fool, you look like a stalker. Yep, that’s my wife.
This Sunday, September, 30th we’ll have been married for 29 years. People often ask me how we’ve stayed married that long. Well, it hasn’t been easy, but I will let you in on what has worked for us. First, you have to make sure your wife understands that she’s just trying out for the job and that you haven‘t made your final decision yet. This will keep her on her toes. From the get-go, you need to make sure she understands that no matter what, you don’t do house work. She’ll thank you for that after a while. She needs to understand that because you’re a man, you have the right to go out drinking with the guys whenever you want and that you’ll come home whenever you want. She’s not to ask any questions. This is all for her own good as there’s no reason to upset her and eventually, she’ll thank you for being so considerate of her feelings.
Okay, maybe this isn’t exactly the way it works. Like all married couples, we’ve had our battles. I call them battles instead of arguments because it more accurately describes them. We’ve battled over everything under the sun. Money, the kids, the house, schools, the weather, you name it, we’ve fought about it. I’ve always envied couples who get in a fight and don’t talk to each other for a few days. I guess one of the reasons we stayed married is because my wife refuses to drop anything until it’s settled. That’s always driven me up the wall, but maybe that’s part of the reason we’re still together, I don’t know.
What I do know, is that we didn’t give up, I suppose mainly because she wouldn’t let me. I’ve learned that if given enough time, most of the things we used to fight about aren’t that important any more. It’s funny how time works, isn’t it?
I’d like to thank my wife for putting up with me all this time, and I’m looking forward to the next 29 years. Goodnight Linda, I love you.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net