The TRUTH About Marriage

Marriage: Give & Take

The following words of wisdom were passed on to my brother and to me when we were in high school during the early 60s. These wise words were from our daddy, the late Hermise Mason Wilkins.  

Daddy started by telling us to be sure to marry someone you really and truly love, someone you would still want to be married to when you’re both old, fat, and wrinkled. He said, “Make sure it’s REAL love, not any of that puppy love stuff.”

Daddy said to love them like you’re never going to be hurt, love them unconditionally. BUT, he cautioned us, “Never love nobody more than you love yourself.” He further explained the following to us.

When you marry give it all you’ve got, EVERY day. Some days it will be 50/50, you’ll give 50% and your spouse will give 50%. THIS is a GOOD day!

Some days you will have to give 60% because your spouse is only giving 40%.

Other days your spouse will only give 30% so you have to give 70%. 

There will even be days when you’re giving 80% and your spouse is only giving 20%.

Wait! If you think that’s bad wait until you’re giving 90% and your spouse is giving only 10%.

It gets even more challenging than that. There’ll be days when your spouse is giving nothing-nada-zero-zilch - 0%. Then, you have to give 100%. GIVE IT!!!

From 50/50 to 0/100 give your marriage ALL you’ve got – ALL the time.

Then, if things don’t work out you will have done your part. Don’t let it be you that didn’t do all you could do in your marriage.

Daddy ended with, "Marriage is not always 50/50. Marriage might be 0/100 on any given day."

Source

There you have, my daddy’s Wise Words of Wisdom concerning marriage. This was long before Teddy Pendergrass released his song “When Somebody Loves You Back”.

What are your thoughts on marriage? Did anyone give you marriage advice before you married? Who was it? What did they tell you? Do you have any marriage advice of your own to share? We'd love to hear it.