Matt W Cook

Do you know what day it is? It’s June 19th. That means anniversary time for the Cooks.

Right now, as you’re reading this, I’m in Toronto. Ruth is taking me to the Science Centre and I’m taking her to a slick hotel. We’ll probably have some Ethiopian food and listen to some Jazz at a club down the road in the evening. Things are looking good. And they’ve been looking good for a long time.

I’m not really a romantic type. I usually roll my eyes during chick-flicks and Bollywood romances. Most love songs make me nauseous. So bear that in mind when considering what I’m about to say.

I love my wife.

I am more in love with my wife than I was when we were first married. And I mean that in the most complete way possible. I mean that I am more passionately, purely, intellectually, emotionally, and every other-ly way possible, in love with her now than I have ever been.

So I have messages for two groups of people today. One is for all those people who warned me about how crappy marriage and married life is. For all those movies and sitcoms that portray marriage as a drudgery that seems only a step or two above prison. For those people whose best advice for married people is little more than ‘you shouldn’t have done it.’ For those people, here is my message: You’re all idiots.

Seriously, you’re dumb. You’ve never experienced marriage the way it ought to be. And I don’t think you mean well, either, because you could at least pretend to support people when they’re getting married, instead of filling their heads with nasty, pessimistic expectations. Yep, you’re all dumb.

And to those of you who are married, or getting married, or hope to be married, I have something to say. Marriage, regardless of what anyone says or what your experience with it is, is great. Don’t think so? Trust me, it is. If your marriage isn’t going well the only solution is love and forgiveness. Love and forgiveness are cure-alls for marital ills. And Ruth and I love and forgive ALL THE TIME. Therefore, we are happy. Burstingly, ridiculously, annoy-people-on-mondays happy.

So throw away your marriage books, forget 3, 7 or 100 steps to a perfect marriage. Just love and forgive. And maybe, if you’re luck and if God allows, you will be able to love your wife almost as much as I love mine.

Ruth, you continue to rock my face off. Keep rocking.

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