Happy Anniversary: Moving Into The Second Decade w/the Car and the Girl


Updated 5 May 2011
Jack and Charmaine This is wedding anniversary week in our household: We celebrate for 7 days.
Men’s Health magazine reminds us why marriage works. The April issue from last year has six compelling reasons to marry, by Anna Maltby.
Anna is a woman.
But the advice is still good,
If you are susceptible to vice, find a wife. She’ll save you from yourself — and improve your life — in a variety of ways…
1. Increase your pay
A Virginia Commonwealth University study found that married men earn 22 percent more than their similarly experienced but single colleagues.
[VCU is a terrific school located in Richmond, Virginia. Usually Conservative. Good.]
2. Speed up your next promotionMarried men receive higher performance ratings and faster promotions than bachelors, a 2005 study of U.S. Navy officers reported.
[If the Army wanted you to have a wife, it would have issued you one, goes the old joke — it looks like the military is a-changing its perception of the value of a helpmeet.]
3. Keep you out of troubleAccording to a recent U.S. Department of Justice report, male victims of violent crime are nearly four times more likely more likely to be single than married.
[Your Business Blogger(R) has not been in a bar fight since getting married. But every few years I got to get the caps replaced on those cracked up front teeth from an altercation back in single days. And I wish that ringing in my ears would stop…]
4. Satisfy you in bedIn 2006, British researchers reviewed the sexual habits of men in 38 countries and found that in every country, married men have more sex.
[Don’t go there…]
5. Help you beat cancerIn a Norwegian study, divorced and never-married male cancer patients had 11 and 16 percent higher mortality rates, respectively, than married men.
[Charmaine is forever pestering me to get a(nother!) physical. Goodness, I had one back in the 90’s. And the colonoscopies every 5 years are her idea too. Such a pain in the …]
6. Help you live longerA UCLA study found that people in generally excellent health were 88 percent more likely to die over the 8-year study period if they were single.
The accountability and friendship of marriage works.
Excuse me now, I’ve got some yard work to do.
As one academic studying the men-marriage-maturity transformation wrote, “A rake, now out raking leaves,”
Thank you (foot)notes:
But we actually celebrate two anniversaries.
Two constants every man needs.
His car.
His woman.
(Order may not be important to some.)
Jack and Charmaine 1990
Even as Charmaine and I are moving into our 20th year of marriage toward that death do us part part; the other anniversary is a milestone of over two decades.
Alert Readers are thinking, I know Jack — how did he do it?
How did he survive all those years?
Without a coffee cup holder…?
The Germans do not believe that people should drive and drink…coffee. Ergo, no coffee cup holder in that old model.
So the ride has been a series of spilled hot fluids. And I would do it again.
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine – Andy Williams, Peter Paul & Mary
20 years; one owner
Your Business Blogger(R) and The Dude
Financial Expert Larry Burkett believes that a man should own but one car and run that car ’til the wheels fall off then repair and repeat.
Replacing is poor stewardship of resources.
It is also Biblical and is based on the Babe Bargain: A man should be the husband of but one wife.
Replacing is poor stewardship of resources.
A car and a girl. What more could a guy want?

Larry Burkett continues,
Let’s face it. The majority of new automobile sales in America are made because of the buyers’ wants, not needs. Often they are just tired of their cars; they look old and out of date, or they need repairs to put them back into top condition, or their neighbors or coworkers have acquired new cars.
Lyrics to KISSES SWEETER THAN WINE here. My favorite version is by Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt.
In May of 1987 Your Business Blogger(R) bought a new car from American Service Center in Arlington, Virginia from former Redskin football player Joe Tereshinski.
My two investments; my two May anniversaries.
Follow us on Twitter: @JackYoest; @CharmaineYoest



A very happy anniversary to you!
Congratulations on the car, the girl, and the combination that resulted…the five kids! What more could y’all ask for? It sounds like a great life to me! Maintenance is the key! Jo
Now here’s the alternative view:
1. You don’t need to increase your pay because you don’t have to pay for braces or ballet slippers.
2. Slower promotions because of the absence of the goads of #1.
3. Able to wear shorts that show off your tan and have the time to do things that can get you in trouble.
4. Uhh, this was a PC-rated site wasn’t it?
5. Maybe, but married men tend to die of heart attacks earlier, either in bed or late at work, trying to make some extra money.
6. It just seems like your life is longer.
Kudos! What a neat way of thkiinng about it.