The Recovering Farmer

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

On Being Married

I ventured out this morning to buy a newspaper. Don’t often do that but occasionally I like to read the news from start to finish. Normally I check the internet for headlines and then move on with life. Today is different. Although I need to do some office work it has been awhile since things were quiet around here. First the grandkids were here for a week, and I could write a number of stories about that, then work took me away from the office every day. So here I am.

One of the first headlines I read was one regarding that tragic airline crash where the co-pilot allegedly crashed the plane intentionally. Since day one that story has intrigued me. The circumstances behind that boggle the mind. As much as I have some experience with anxiety and depression and various thoughts on how to end life I cannot imagine taking control of an airliner and running it into a mountainside. It defies logic.

The story that caught my eye this morning was from an event held by Turkish Airlines. Apparently the CEO of Turkish Airlines told their new pilots that it would be best if they were married. Okay? Nothing against marriage but why would he say that? He feels that people with spouses are more stable. Interesting, to say the least. So if this particular fellow had been married the tragedy would not have happened?

My first inclination was to laugh off such a weird conclusion to a tragic event. But it got me thinking. I thought back to an Alan Jackson song. Please don’t hold that against me. I don’t particularly care for his music or his style of music. I can nasal my way through a lot of songs but it does nothing for me. However, I do recall a song he produced many years ago. Don’t recall the title, don’t recall the music. I recall one sentence and it went like this. “She is all I’ve got between the devil and me”.

I often wondered about this whole relationship concept, who helps who, who really is strongest. Then this morning I read a post from my brother who, and I would suggest his wife would say, finally admitted to the fact that through the years his wife had been right about so many things. I sensed in his writing that he could have come to this conclusion a little sooner. But I really don’t want to go there. That is his issue to deal with.

I thought back to the many challenges I have had in life and realize that my wife, my partner has kept me sane. Has kept me from the metaphorical crashing the plane into the mountain. Sometimes I have fought against her ideas. Sometimes I have even been right. I remember in 1997 when we were talking about. . . . oh never mind. She has been an incredible encouragement in my journey.

So instead of running the risk of having a whole bunch of husbands jumping down my throat let me expound on what I just said. The news article got me thinking about this. When I look around at some of my friends I think it is true. When I look in the mirror I know it is true. However I must be very clear on something. Relationships help all of us. Whether we are a wife, a husband, a partner, a friend. Whether male or female. Relationships provide us with the energy to face challenges in life. Never forget that. Never under estimate that. Work on relationships. It will be worth it. Make it a good one.

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