Dad, Tell Me About the Time (42)

 Tuesday, September 3, 2024

What do you love most about your spouse?

I think the thing which most attracted me to Lisa is her ability to make friends whereever she is. I probably like that so much because it is the exact opposite of me. We can move to a completetly different country and within the first week she has several friends. We can be standing in line at Disneyland and she is buddies with the family standing in front of us and the family behind us. On top of all that, she will know there names and never forget them. She will usually have found someone that we know in common. It is rather amazing to watch.

What was the most challenging part about going from single life to being married?

There is very little about my single life that I miss and very little about being married that I find hard. Of course, it is always a challenge when you need to compromise on what it is you want to do but that is a part of life in general, not just being married.

What advice would you give your grandchildren about marriage?

When we moved to San Diego we had no family here and we didn’t know anybody except for an older couple who moved here from Edmonton. Bob and Virgina Lundrigan became defacto Grandparents for our family. Bob had a saying that I totally agree with. He always said, “long courtship and short engagement”. I completely agree with that. Generally speaking, you should get to know your future spouse really well before you decided to marry them.

I have observed that when you’re dating someone they can hide their true self from you for a long time and you don’t really get to know them until you have dated for at least six months. I would suggest that you don’t even consider proposing until you have dated for at least six months and then when you do get engaged, make it a short engagement.