The Warm, Happy Marriage

When I was a in high school, all I wanted to do after graduation was get married and have babies. I was never a great student although I could have been if I had cared a little more about studying and not so much about friends, boys and my social life. Why did I need to get good grade and go to college if I was just going to get married, have babies and be a stay at home mom? Well, all these years later I find myself as a divorced single mom and wish I would've stayed in college, gotten a degree after high school and not depended so much on my now ex-husband.

We read two chapters in our book Successful Marriages and Families this week and this one is called The Warm, Happy Marriage: Cold, Hard Facts to Consider. Now if that doesn't get you thinking I don't know what will!

In this chapter they quote single mother originally Gottlieb she says " If we'd had a more realistic understanding of its cold, hard benefits, we might have done things differently" she said she thought she could have it all a baby now and a soul mate later, a stable husband who might not share her same passions but would help her with the diaper changing, bill paying, sickness and health married life. He quote now for those how don't think marriage is necessary for a happy life is "Well...ha! Hahahah. And ha".

What do you think? Is marriage necessary for a happy life? According to the book "marriage fully merits the sacrifices required for lifelong commitment and as a whole, rewards those who accept its boundaries." This chapter offers a lot of research as well as information from the public, columnists, bloggers, screenwriters giving facts that will help all involved understand that marriage underlies the optimal family structure for all people. Men, women, children, neighborhoods and even the world.

When couples choose to live together before marriage they have higher rates of divorce, low levels of marital quality, more negative communication and less satisfactions in their marriages when they do finally marry. Infidelity and abuse is more common in these couples as well. This is so scary to me. If you could look back at your decisions knowing how things would turn out what would you change? Would you have lived with your husband before you married him? I know before I married my now ex-husband, his Mother told him it would be a good idea to have sex before getting married to make sure we were physically compatible. What do you think? Good advice from your future mother-in-law? In my opinion, "no".

The benefits of marriage begin with the wedding. It benefits our lives, our children's lives, the lives of those around us. I would love to hear what you think the benefits of marriage are or what they have been to you.