Reader’s Digest Australia & New Zealand – May 2019

110 | May• 2019

LIFE WELL LIVED

PHOTO: MATTHEW COHEN

35 LESSONS

I’ve Learnt In

35 Years of Marriage

Lesson 15: Being right will eventually lose its appeal

1 Don’t complain about the cooking

when your spouse is the cook.

2 Never start the day off nagging or

complaining.

3 An unwillingness to quarrel

about something doesn’t mean

you agree with it.

4 There’s no end to how much you

can love someone if you let yourself.

5 Never decide to get a divorce

when you have PMS (or the flu).

6 Generosity may be the key

to all happiness.

7 Express gratitude often.

BY WINIFRED M. REILLY FROM SPEAKINGOFMARRIAGE.COM

LIKE MOST NEWLY WEDS, my hus-

band and I stepped into marriage

bright-eyed, optimistic and unpre-

pared. But – let’s hear it for young

love – we assumed that our marriage

would be a rousing success. Marriage

turned out to be far more challenging

than we had imagined; yet, we just

celebrated our 35th anniversary.

Despite flaring tempers, pouting

and a mutual tendency to blame, our

saving grace may have been that we

both kept two feet in. Here are some

of the lessons we learnt the hard way.