Cashing In On a Good Marriage

I worked the Scholastic Book Fair all week for the kids' grammar school. While it might seem that all I did was show up and boom - instant 2 Grand for the kids' school - it actually took quite a bit of prep. There was the work shop, getting the volunteers, learning how to work a cash register/credit card machine, restocking books, convincing myself to not run screaming to a Two Buck Chuck Refinery and drown in a 4 ton vat of cheap wine, etc..

As I took everyone's payments, I couldn't help but think about marriage. The "bells and whistles" of the display cases... alll those non-wrinkled shiny books... were like a wedding: Crisp, colorful, full of promise. But the effort it took to keep things orderly... the follow through, the single minded purpose toward profit, the stalwart smile despite complaints about prices...that was marriage.

Marriage is a lot like reading. It takes an education and a mindfulness. It takes selective hearing: "I will remember this chapter of my life with fondness. The other one? I'll burn it - and I won't apologize for my stand against it."

Sometimes when working a book fair, or reading a book, it would be easy to get stuck in a frustrating section. But instead, I am choosing to look at the story as a whole. Was it a worthwhile experience? Was there financial or personal gain? Was it fun? If parts of it were, but sections were not, what can I change? And what I can't change, are the good experiences worth the intolerable ones?

For marriage and book fairs, my answer is yes. I hope yours are also.

Posted by Andrea Frazer


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