A Marriage I Would Not Go Through With
By When Taylor Branch and his wife, Christy, exchanged vows in 1978, Branch had to do more than promise to remain faithful through sickness and health: he also had to give up football.
Branch had been a standout high school football player in Atlanta before turning down a scholarship to play at Georgia Tech, but his wife was not a fan. She wanted him to refrain from playing, watching, cheering — everything — and in exchange, she pledged to learn to love baseball. Branch complied and kept his distance.
Really? I love football, sure. And I certainly love Taylor Branch’s books. But that’s not the point. Should anyone go into a marriage when the partner bans the person from enjoying something they love? Isn’t part of a marriage embracing what your partner loves, even though you totally don’t understand it? In my case, this would me more or less accepting my wife’s enjoyment of Sex and the City and being Irish.
Still, whatever works for you. But if my partner told me I had to give up silent movies or martinis or staying up til 2 a.m. on the east coast to watch random Pac-12 football games, I don’t know. Instead, she just wisely makes fun of me and goes to bed.