The Top 40

Q: Why is divorce so expensive?

A: Because it's worth it.

Willy Nelson suggested a fair compromise. Find a woman you hate and buy her a new house.

That sure does ring a bell for accuracy, especially with my second marriage. (I was a college student during the first and she still took everything but I got the better deal).

After nearly 17 years of separation Numero 2 is still a hag...meaner than a snake, never had dated and hopefully for all of the men out there, never will. She got it all and I was saddled with 17 years of child support for two. Never shirked a task, never missed a payment and always covered all other expenses that arose, including cars and college, etc.

Married Numero 3. Cute little sassy redhead with a great rack and she's still the best one ever. But...I've got a prenup, i've got a prenup, Ive got a prenup....!

Oh my. You marry because family is the best thing, and this is how you get your own adult family. I think men need marriage more than women do: my college-aged son was "seeing" a young woman with whom he had a lot in common; he really liked having someone he could be close to and was tired of the college hookup scene. They broke up and it just stabbed my heart when he told his Dad and me that he doesn't really have anyone to talk to now. Mind you, he has several good, old friends and lots of new friends. But it's not the same, talking to his guy friends. Ideally a man will find a good woman; a good match; and she will be his best fried and they will face life together. The burdens are halved, for they are shared---and the joys are doubled. I'm sorry that people seem to maybe be losing the knack of being married.

You can't marry cause the rules are skewed against you. Ditto living with them (common law). So if you want to live with a woman and create a fambly what's left?

Incorporate.
Get a $10k mouthpiece and put it all down on paper becasue you must look at the potential end result first, not last.

Traditionally a marriage starts with feelings, emotions, which are then torn asunder by the legal system, reduced to dollar signs that are then torn from your ass pocket for a good portion of your remaining life.

For the life of me I can't grasp why any man today would do such a thing as getting married unless he is completely out of his mind. So if that is the case maybe he deserves what lies in wait.

Well, this has been an upbeat thread.

My uncle Letsgo said that it is better to love a woman and be disappointed than to eat your borscht alone.

Well for most of my life I've been a serial shack-man. that worked well, it's like renting an apartment. when the paint starts looking dingy, you move to new digs. Let the next tenant worry about the colors.

All this stuff about having kids is way overrated. My brothers and sisters took care of that carrying on the family name crap. And the headaches that go with it.

As for estates, sell what you have, drink it up, gamble and party. You can't take it with you and the Government sure as hell doesn't deserve it.

Bachelors know more about women than married men do.

That's why they're still bachelors.

Whenever I read these pile-ons about marriage, one thing I always suspect is that none of the participants know anything about what it means to live your life alone. Fred Reed, as a prime example, has never been single in his life.

What I think is that it's normal to long for Home, and that orphans just have no idea how to go about that. I pretty much guarantee all of you that I've spent more time single than the bunch of you put together - and like chas says, I know a helluva lot about women. Pretty damn cold comfort.

I could write something about it coming from the other direction too. But why fight? I love men so I picked one and on we go. Forty five years now and we still go on.
Just a hint: maybe some men are looking in all the wrong places.

He's completely right... from the purely material and temporal point of view, with most modern women. But there are good women out there - often with awful guys that don't deserve them or treat them right. And the world consists of more than simply the material and temporal.

I pretty much guarantee all of you that I've spent more time single than the bunch of you put together

49 years here and counting. Its a trade off, there are benefits and drawbacks to being in a relationship and being single.

Sure it's a trade-off, but I know so much about how to take care of myself because it's the default option, not because I chose it. I've been married 2 1/2 times, been raped and come back to try again. And given up at 50.

And pbird, of course we look in the wrong places, because nobody taught us what the right places were, not to mention they're getting harder to find. If you think about it, you'll realize that the good women you know don't want anything to do with a guy who has no family background. Not her fault, but not his either.

Maybe the *lookin* is blocking the view.
31 years here, guess we're still youngsters.
I've now been married longer than I was single.
I'll prolly stay this way.

Which is worse, alone but not lonely, or lonely while not alone?

Better to be alone and happy then married and miserable.

As Red would say, I've become institutionalized, used to the ball and chain, dependent even.