My wife and I married fairly young, me 23, her 18. Her oldest brother had agreed to officiate our wedding, but wanted to "counsel" us. So we drove three hours north to meet him at his home, staying overnight so he could "counsel" us independently. After the three hour drive and two days of interrogation, her brother stated he was no longer going to marry us. Said we had too many arguments, were immature (yeah, we were young), and would never last (our 37th anniversary is in November). We left immediately and my wife was fuming the whole three hour drive back home. [emoji4]
Thankfully, the pastor of her church agreed to marry us at the last minute, albeit with more (less invasive) counseling. For reasons I'll never know, he was never fond of me, but the wedding went well.
Her best friend was supposed to be her maid of honor, but had to back out at the last minute when her mother-in-law passed away. They held the funeral service in the same sanctuary a couple hours before we got married there. [emoji4] Thankfully, her oldest sister agreed to step in and luckily the brides maid dress fit her well.
So, it was a rocky start, but we're coming up on 37 years.
Hopefully 37 good years. Not implying anything about your marriage but I think when people talk about the length of their marriage, it helps to understand whether they were or are happily married (like Brett did). People stay married for all kinds of reasons not having anything to do with a good marriage - the church, children, money, community, friends, tradition, pride, etc, etc all the while being deeply unsatisfied. Sad indeed given the one life we have to live.
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