QOTW- parents

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2005
QOTW- parents
9
Thu, 07-03-2008 - 7:34pm

On a little different idea of marriage... how long were/ are your parents together for?


Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-27-2006
In reply to: cl_alison
Thu, 07-03-2008 - 7:47pm

My parents were married 48 yrs in May.....I used to look to look at my parents marriage as how

~Karen
˙·٠•●♥Ƹ̵̡&#1244
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-23-2006
In reply to: cl_alison
Thu, 07-03-2008 - 10:21pm
Oy vey, my parents' marriage was nothing to base marriage on.
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-15-2008
In reply to: cl_alison
Fri, 07-04-2008 - 12:02am

Great question Alison!

Avatar for eponine365
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-02-2003
In reply to: cl_alison
Fri, 07-04-2008 - 2:19am

My parents were married about 20 years...


While they had both a good and a bad marriage.. I still have great respect for both of my parents, and they did at one time have a wonderful relationship. I know that everything that happened to them has had a great impact on me and my relationships.


Ok, major info I"m sharing here.. and I think I'm doing it just because I don't really know any of you all. I kind of hold this info back for a while when I meet someone new.


Anyway my parents had a great marriage, my father was the life of the party... very magnetic personality and everyone loved him. My Mom was the perfect stay at home mom who worshiped him and was really there for all of us. Dad had a great job as an engineer, and we lived a very good life. So anyway, out of the blue my father flipped out and was diagnosed manic depressive. He lost his job, went through a string of jobs, and a string of episodes for the next 8 years. Mom stuck by him through it all... even though I know she was really having a hard time taking care of everything. Dad would spend a lot of money when he was manic. So our xmas savings would be spent, our college funds were gone.. we were left with really nothing.


So, Dad finally had his last episode when I was 14 and it was a bad one. He ended up killing himself. My mother is my hero from all of this though. She stood by him, stepped up and supported the three of us on her minimum wage job. She put her life back together, lost tons of weight. She ended up looking like Linda Evans she was so beautiful! I even had guys in high school that had a crush on my mom. Well, she ended up getting remarried to a very stable older man.. I think thats what she needed.. just that perfect stability. She waits on him hand and foot.. and it makes her happy. While thats not my thing... I know it makes her happy.

"I never knew what real happiness was until I got married,
and by then, it was too late."
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-13-2005
In reply to: cl_alison
Fri, 07-04-2008 - 5:18am
Mine have been married for 47 years. For the most part they are happy- they are similar. When we were growing up they worked hard to give us private school and live in a good neighborhood - my dad worked and my mom stayed home - although she did bring in an income with her art. Their only difference is that my mom loves to travel and my dad does not - although now they travel with my sister to help her with her kids so that has been sort of a saving grace. I have seen them go through some ups and downs. But they are getting along surprisingly well now - like 2 peas in a pod. My dad has always been really nice to my mom no matter what. Although sometimes I have thought that she can be really selfish and controlling - but mostly that is because she thinks everyone should be like her and she worries a lot. My mom and I differed on things - especially now she cannot understand why I would want to be divorced - and I am a big thinker whereas she is not so much - but I have held my ground and not let her control me - and things are better between us now. I am not afraid to speak my mind and set boundaries.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-06-1998
In reply to: cl_alison
Fri, 07-04-2008 - 6:23am
My parents have been married for about 48 years. In fact they are one of the reasons why I left my dh- I did not want to end up stuck in a long unhappy marriage like my Mother has been! I'd look at my parents (Mum is a fantastic person, Dad has his moments ;o) & think I could not stand being like that, & that's the way we were heading. Over the years I have suggested Mum leave but she says she has left it too late ......

 



Tracy

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2005
In reply to: cl_alison
Fri, 07-04-2008 - 12:01pm
I'm so sorry about the loss of your dad, I can't imagine going through that.



Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2002
In reply to: cl_alison
Fri, 07-04-2008 - 5:49pm

how long were/ are your parents together for?

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-25-2007
In reply to: cl_alison
Sat, 07-05-2008 - 1:05pm

how long were/ are your parents together for?

mom_uk2socal - Mom to DS22, DS19, DD16