Marriage Is About Compromise

With our wood floor remodeling near completion, my wife Patty and I have spent a great deal of time moving furniture, tossing possessions we’ve saved over the years and generally “decluttering.” The wood floors make our rooms look larger, or perhaps it’s merely the fact that we have less stuff.

At first, Patty didn’t seem too wild about my blueprints for redesigning the rooms once wood floors replaced the old carpet. But she eventually got into the spirit of things and we went back and forth about what would go best where. We didn’t argue; we discussed, calmly.

Patty made a big concession in moving her treadmill from a prominent place in the living room into a spare bedroom. I permitted her to move the stereo to the other side of the living room when it became apparent that speaker wires would become entangled every time she sat in her recliner.

And that is symbolic of why our marriage has lasted for 34 years. Neither of us insists on having our own way, even if we truly believe we are right. Inflexibility only leads to petty selfishness, that gradually veers to disrespect and ultimately delusion about matrimony itself.