Do you have a brother-in-law or sister-in-law you can count on? How about a sibling of your mother-in-law? Thank your marriage.
Do you have big, warm holiday dinners with your extended family? Thank your marriage. Or your parents’ marriage. Or your siblings’ marriages.
Marriage ties the knots in the net that protects us when we fall and that gives us something to hold onto as we climb toward our dream life. This net links families. It links people across national borders, across ethnic and racial divides, across the ages. It is the very fabric of society.
My first husband died 35 years ago, and I am still tied into and supported by his family. In return, I do my best to hold onto the loose ends and help mend the fabric when any more of them die.
When my son married, he added to this net. I can count on not just my amazing daughter-in-law but her sisters and their husbands, too. And they can count on me.
Eventually, those who live with and love members of our net unmarried can become part of that net. But it doesn’t happen as quickly as it does with a marriage. And it typically doesn’t happen as quickly with a second or third marriage as it did with the first.
And that’s why I think it is so important to help each other mend our marriages.
