Negative impact of marrying the village idiot...

[M.D. Holloway]

but does she do "things" that keep him very happy?

Take sex out of the equation and see how much power she has - amazing how that works.

I say every bad marriage needs a good affair ...

[Baz]

My Uncle Olaf used to say....a woman has to win over her man only once, while a man has to win over his woman over and over and over....

[Chocaholic]

Wow. This thread reminds me again how effing lucky I am. We get married when we're young and horney. What we end up with is another story. I lucked out. My wife is awesome, but it's not because I was so smart when I got married. It's because I was lucky.

[flatbutt]

"she can't take you any way you don't already know how to go"

[HardDrive]

I'm lucky. My wife doesn't 'need' a man around. She's a talented pediatric anesthesiologist. And a tough SOB at that. Were both very independent, and it seems like things work because we don't try and make the other person into something they are not.

Men (me included) can stupidly bottle up their feelings, and some women will take that as a cue to run over the guys feelings and try and mold them into someone else. Those same guys are the ones who seem to end up getting caught dipping their wick somewhere else. Or worse yet, spending every weekend obsessively working on an old German car. ....I kid, I kid.....

[Bugsinrugs]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Wow. This thread reminds me again how effing lucky I am. We get married when we're young and horney. What we end up with is another story. I lucked out. My wife is awesome, but it's not because I was so smart when I got married. It's because I was lucky.

Me too!

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

One of my fraternity bros. was a great guy everyone liked and respected. He met a woman like the ones described above and she totally transformed him. He became totally brainwashed. And she wasn't even that hot; he had had far better. It got the point that she controlled his email and eventually so bad that she had his dog put to sleep. This dog used to be the frat. house dog, was a cool as could be, but she alleged the dog snapped at a child (very hard to believe) and so had to go. He would go for mos. at a time with no contact with the rest of us and we only seemed to get updates when someone ran into him on the street or at the store. When the wedding bells started chiming, he was not allowed to invite any of us or any of his other friends - just family for him and friends and family for her. We had serious discussions of kidnapping him at the altar, but decided against it. Now they have kids and he's a complete stranger to us all.

Was her name Yoko?

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Wow. This thread reminds me again how effing lucky I am. We get married when we're young and horney. What we end up with is another story. I lucked out. My wife is awesome, but it's not because I was so smart when I got married. It's because I was lucky.

Same here, plus I think i'm lucky because I don't have to live in a world with all that drama.
It don't have to be a soap opera.

[diverdan]

Happily divorced from a good woman who turned into a paranoid disaster queen. The focus of her, her family, and friends is definitely a bit irrational and limited in scope. They seem to spiral into their darker depths as their social circle narrows in scope of the world. Either you buy into their way of thinking, or you get further out of their circle. Nice folks, but self limiting.

[Rickysa]

Have ANY of you ever met a truly successful person in your life who is looking
at life in such terms?

well, yeps....me (to a certain extent).

Not men on mars, no moon landing, or other bat-sheet crazy stuff...but to not look at what is happening in the world, in our country, and how precarious things are, one could make the argument that not pondering some "what if" scenarios might be pollyannaish.

I am a normal guy (50), married 25 years, two young kids, self-employed, etc., and used to not give much of a crap about anything about politics, financial markets and all that stuff...just my backyard and ACC basketball . I don't want to start any kind of argument or start a political polemic, I just started seeing things that began to concern me...and did a couple of "what ifs" myself. That led to putting up some extra food, learning how to can, self-protection, and other things that are really just common sense.

You can read "One Second After" to really get the willies, but that is probably an 11 on a 1-10 scale of possibility.

[GH85Carrera]

I took a long time to find my wife. I was in my late 30s when I got married. I found a winner.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by speeder

Yes, I agree. Using asswipe as an investment strategy shows the type of forward-thinking brilliance that really forgives all those other flaws.

If the SHTF, you still need to wipe your ass.

My brother in law is the epitome of this thread. He's an immature spoiled brat living in the body of a reasonably successful 30 year old. Totally miserable and desperate to get married because all of his friends were, so he threw money and gifts at every girlfriend he could find. All of the decent ones ran away, but I always told my wife that someday he would meet the right one........and he did.........then he got her preggo.........and she already has two kids from two different dads. Anybody else see that freight train coming down the tracks? So now these two, both in massive debt, are going to have a destination wedding in Florida. FANTASTIC way to start off a marriage.

Personally, I'm another one in the "got lucky" camp. My wife helped motivate me to go back to school, rekindle my lost religion on my terms, and has given me three great kids and a better life than I deserve. She also loves sports and can hold her own with my buddies. I knew I had a keeper when she would fire right back at my friends giving her crap, and have just as much fun around them as I did.

[JavaBrewer]

My BIL somewhat falls in line with this thread. He was raised strict LDS, did his 2 yr mission, signed on for another 2 year mission, then entered the Navy. His religious views forbid sex before marriage. Well he was nearly 30 and going bonkers with pent up frustration... Of course the first LDS girl that even looks at him and boom - marriage with kids arriving shortly after. He's a shell of the person he used to be and she wrestles him (and wins) for the dinner leftovers.

[speeder]

I'm lucky. My wife doesn't 'need' a man around. She's a talented pediatric anesthesiologist. And a tough SOB at that. Were both very independent, and it seems like things work because we don't try and make the other person into something they are not.

Men (me included) can stupidly bottle up their feelings, and some women will take that as a cue to run over the guys feelings and try and mold them into someone else. Those same guys are the ones who seem to end up getting caught dipping their wick somewhere else. Or worse yet, spending every weekend obsessively working on an old German car. ....I kid, I kid.....

You are a lucky bastage. She might even make more than my sister, a derm pathologist. Those sub-specialties are where it's at.