Special Silliness

          On a nice Saturday afternoon. I was waiting outside of the grocery store for my wife to finish shopping. A well dressed older lady came out of the store carrying 2 bags with only a couple of items in each. She waited at the curb next to the pick-up lane for her husband to pick her up. As he started to drive toward her she started to giggle. That was when she stuck her thumb out in a very animated way, as if hitch-hiking. I could see her husband smiling. Then she turned sideways and hiked her dress over one knee and wiggled the knee like a floozy in a movie might do, and started laughing. As he picked her up, they were both laughing loudly, but stopped momentarily to give each other a little kiss before driving off.

As I witnessed that, it was clear that those folks have a happy marriage. They apparently love the silly things, and enjoy sharing silliness with each other and aren’t concerned about what others may think about it. That’s a special kind of silliness, the kind that can help keep a marriage alive.

During the few years of marriage, we seldom seem to run out of silly little things each partner can do, things meant just for the other, do we? They bring laughter, and a deeply personal bonding between each other takes place. Silly humor helps serve as glue for a happy marriage.

Eventually, things change bit by bit, Everyday life takes its toll. There are pressures of the job(s), finances, and maybe kids. Those things bring a new level of seriousness to the relationship. Each partner must decide if those things need to stand in the way of real happiness, if they should act like a damper on the partnership. Isn’t our real choice whether or not we want to let the marriage become routine, and possibly boring?

It’s often been said that humor has a healing effect. From that, can’t we believe that a little bit of personal silliness can be something special in our relationship, something that will help us over those rough edges of the routine and boring?

Bottom Line Thought:  Are you struggling with the routine in your marriage? How is your silly factor? If it’s not appreciated, does that mean you should stop trying to help keep the marriage alive with some humor?