The Big Three-Two
VIEWPOINT
By RALPH HARDIN
Evening Times Editor
My marriage has hit the freezing point…
No, I’m not talking about my wife giving me the cols shoulder or anything. By the time you read this, it will be our 32nd wedding anniversary.
We were just a couple of teenagers back on Feb. 13, 1993, when we said our vows. Though no one said as such, I’m sure there were at least a few folks who thought we’d never make it. And really, who could have blamed them. I mean, half of all marriages end in divorce. And according to the internet, the divorce rate for teen marriages is closer to 75%, so the fact that my wife still puts up with me after 32 years is statistically pretty amazing.
Yet, here we are. I consider myself a pretty fortunate fellow to have stayed married this long (with high hopes for another 32
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years or more). I guess I got it from my parents, who celebrated number 52 back in December. Now, I got to wondering if there was a traditional wedding gift assigned to the 32nd anniversary. You know, like silk or pottery or silver or whatever. It turns out there is. Thirty-two is the conveyance anniversary (who knew?). So, I guess maybe that means I’m supposed to get my wife a new car for our anniversary, maybe complete with one of those giant bows you see on the Christmas commercials, but those commercials are pretty unrealistic if you ask me… “Merry Christmas, honey! It’s 72 easy monthly installments!”
So, instead, we’re taking a trip up to Northwest Arkansas to see the kiddos (in a car, so it counts, right?) this weekend. No, it’s not a romantic getaway, but we’ll be together with some of our favorite folks so it’s all good. Besides, now that all of the kids have moved out, any weekend can be a romantic weekend (wink, wink).
But in any event, 32 years is a pretty good run. I looked up some interesting facts about the number 32. In addition to being Magic Johnson’s jersey number, it’s also the number of teeth an adult human has, it’s the atomic number for the element Germanium, the 32nd state was Minnesota, Franklin Roosevelt was the 32nd president and there are a total of 32 NFL teams!
