I was just washing dishes and thinking about Katy and I’s relationship and I recalled the single best piece of marriage advice we’ve ever gotten. This piece of advice saved us several times and has really helped us work together. The advice came from Jim and Amy Carlile when we were engaged. They told us to watch out for the miserable married people who want you to be miserable also, watch out for patterns like saying “the wife”, etc. They summed it up with the simple approach… “just be cool”. Hell yeah. That’s probably the generation X way of saying the golden rule or something, but I know for my part there have been many times I took a breath and said “just be cool” to myself and stopped whatever petty stupid behavior I was in the middle of. It has been the best marriage advice ever.
So, to make this post blog-like for the five people who actually read it, what’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Never play poker with someone who’s got the same first name as a city.
Don’t know if this is advice I was given, but here it is anyway, “You can’t change anyone”. I think it is totally true, but it doesn’t stop me from trying, it just keeps me from getting irritated when they don’t change.
Here is a great one from a friend at work via IM….
Wa: Probably….first lesson of life…LIFE is not fair… I won’t ever let [His Kid] use that word
Wa: It’s not fair some people are born rich, poor, deaf, dumb etc… That’s the breaks. Sooner you learn to deal with that the better of you will be
So….I should stop the pattern of saying “old ball and chain”?
“Don’t go to law school.” I didn’t listen. Seriously.
The other best advice I got was “always be nice to the waiter or waitress.” I apply that in all service settings (unless they piss me off) and it makes me feel good.
Try not to leave a bruise.