Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Friday, May 13. 2011

QQQ

"Do the dishes."


My Dad, in response to my lovely daughter in law when she asked him his secret for staying happily married for over 60 years.

Posted by Bird Dog in Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ) at 11:56 | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Clearly an old school marriage. Now it is "do the dishes, and the laundry, the ironing, vaccuuming, and dusting."

Oh, yeah, and all the standard old-school male chores also.
#1 Knucklehead (Link) on 2011-05-13 11:57 (Reply)
Something my 80+ y.o. mother observed about her grandson and granddaughter in law. See the boy was doing the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, the child care all the while his 'wife' was "taking a nap". This lasted about 6 years until she decided to take off with a different drummer and divorced him. So "doing the dishes" is not a panacea to happy marriages. I am sure that 'happy marriage' can be distilled down to a single "do this" item. Marriage is a complex interwoven state of existence and what worked for BD's dad certainly would not have worked in mine.
#1.1 JoeC on 2011-05-14 12:05 (Reply)
A single paper plate can last a week, depending on what you put on it.
#2 rhhardin (Link) on 2011-05-13 12:25 (Reply)
When we visited our grandparents, paper plates were often used for Sunday dinners. On such occasions, my grandfather would inform us that he would wash the plates.

But not on ordinary days with washable plates.



My grandfather was actually fairly helpful. When my grandmother was crippled with arthritis, he took over grocery shopping and most of the kitchen duties.
#3 Gringo on 2011-05-13 13:14 (Reply)
The secret for staying happily married is simple. Consideration and respect. Everything one partner does for the other falls under consideration.

It is amazing the two simple ingredients for a happy marriage seems elusive to many people.
#4 Cilla Mitchell, Galveston Texas (Link) on 2011-05-13 14:13 (Reply)
Great cluebat, Cilla! Some people won't get it.
#5 Sam L. on 2011-05-13 20:50 (Reply)
Remember: no man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
#6 Gwynne on 2011-05-13 21:43 (Reply)
Obviously not married to my wife. I thought I was being helpful in loading the dishwasher (first month of marriage) when my wife argued I was 'not doing it right'. Several incidents of that criticism made me just say fine, do it yourself. Oh, and we are still married 32+ years later. rather than stand and argue, I have learned how to say do it yourself, then keep my mouth shut until she asks for help. Marriage psychology 101, learn to zip the lip.
#6.1 JoeC on 2011-05-14 12:10 (Reply)
I like to joke that the key to a good marriage is a sturdy shovel. You use it to deal with all the crap that comes through and to bury your skeletons instead of shoving them in a closet.
#7 molloaggie on 2011-05-14 02:11 (Reply)
Years ago, my daughter and my wife decided to write out my job description. It came down to three things:
1- Bring home my paycheck
2- Lift heavy objects
3- Kill spiders

A guy could do worse...
#8 Tom Armstrong (Link) on 2011-05-14 08:53 (Reply)
Four words that make a lasting relationship:
"You're absolutely right, dear."
#9 Scott (Link) on 2011-05-14 11:23 (Reply)
It took awhile to learn chicklets can't cook but need to feel needed.

Dishes are for girls to do.

No cookin' allowed by females in my kithchen.

So i allow girls to do dishes.
#10 Leag on 2011-05-14 14:03 (Reply)
Well the point is not to "do the dishes." The point is to do the dishes together. And the children will vanish lest they be asked to help. There are many layers to intimacy.
#11 Deborah on 2011-05-15 00:34 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.