Griffin Speaks

The Seven Year Itch

One beautiful Sunday morning, some folks in Montgomery woke up early and went to their local church. Before the service began, the worshipers sat in their pews and talked about their lives, their friends and families.

Suddenly at the altar, the Devil appeared! The worshipers began screaming and running for the front door, crushing each other in their efforts to escape the Devil.

Soon, everyone was evacuated from the church except for one man, who sat calmly in his pew; seemingly oblivious to the fact that God’s ultimate enemy was in his presence. This confused the Devil. He walked up to the man and said, “HEY, DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” THE MAN SAID, “YEP, SURE DO.” DEVIL SAID, “WELL AREN’T YOU AFRAID OF ME?” THE MAN SAID, “NOPE. SURE AIN’T.” DEVIL PERTURBED, SAID, “AND WHY ARE YOU NOT AFRAID OF ME?” THE MAN SAID, “WELL, I’VE BEEN MARRIED TO YOUR SISTER FOR 30 YEARS!”

That’s a joke of course, but there are many people that harbor those feelings at some point in their marriage. It usually occurs at the seventh year. It is commonly known as the seven-year itch.

There was a hilarious comedy named “The Seven Year Itch”. It was about a married man who has all of Manhattan to himself when his wife and son go on vacation. The couple has been married for seven years. He meets a beautiful model portrayed by Marilyn Monroe. She moves into his building and he is instantly attracted to her. The result is a slew of fantasies and temptations.

Many couples grow bored with each other around the seventh year of marriage. Things become so routine that the thrill is gone. The exciting and once beautiful spouse becomes the person that they don’t like and can’t change. I fortunately discovered long before my seventh year that you have to keep the fire burning!

How do you keep that fire burning? Well you must not let routine overshadow your relationship. Always take time to be alone with your spouse. You must send him or her flowers just for the sake of sending them to express your love. You must be committed to love your spouse even when you don’t like them very much.

My wife’s grandmother gave me some excellent marital advice on her fiftieth wedding anniversary. When I asked her to tell me the secret to a long marriage; she replied,”You just make do!” That statement can be interpreted in many ways; however, I believe what she was saying is you simply accept your spouse and keep your marital vows.

In today’s society we throw the towel in too quickly. We see celebrities like Michael Jordan, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and many others just calling it quits when the thrill is gone. Put the thrill back in your marriage.

I challenge you to love more deeply. I challenge you to look for the good things in your marriage instead of the bad things. Remember that most marriages are like a hot bath, once you get use to it, it’s not so hot. To avoid this problem you have to keep running the hot water.

To women I say: Don’t let the only difference between you and a pit bull be lipstick! To men I say don’t ever feel like the man I saw the other day at the grocery store. I told him that my wife is an angel. He looked me straight in the eye and said: “You’re lucky, mine’s still alive.”

Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by logging onto his webpage at www.greggriffin.com