Marriage
I was working at the hockey game the other night when this attractive, upset woman approached me asking to use the phone. Unfortunately I was unable to help her as she needed to make a long distance call. It seems she came to the game from out of town with her husband and part way through the game he left his seat and didn’t return. She tried calling his cell phone so many times near the of and after the game that her battery had died.
Apparently he’s done this before.
They didn’t have a meeting place and she didn’t remember exactly where they parked. She had just begun to cry when her husband showed up, quite by accident. It seems he ran into an old friend of his. Now by this point the game had been over for at least half an hour. She, in tears, demanded to know where he’d been. He responded by laughing in her face and telling her to lighten up.
“The game’s been over for over half an hour” she screamed “didn’t you hear your phone?!”
“Yea, why did you keep calling?” he asked nonchalantly.
“Well if you’d answered it you’d know! Because I didn’t know where you were! You’d been gone for 2 hours! I don’t know this city…nevermind!” and then she stormed out, which in retrospect doesn’t make much sense because she didn’t know where she was going.
Her husband turned to his friend who said “Man! She’s pissed!”
He just shrugged and casually walked in the direct she’d gone, the picture of uncaring arrogant confidence.
Clearly this kind of thing happened often and he was going to be forgiven without much effort as he no doubt had for countless times before.
This struck me as a prime example of someone getting married before they were ready. She’s stuck with this jerk and they both know it. He exploits it, and she despairs.
I can imagine their life together. He has all the power, she gets no respect and complains loudly to her friends who try to give her advice but nothing ever changes. She didn’t wait long enough to get to know the real him and he didn’t realize he didn’t really love her until after they tied the knot. She stays because she believes in the institution of marriage, he stays because he’d do badly in divorce court.
So to anyone who questions my ‘date at least 2 years before even considering marriage’ rule I say: game, set, and match.
