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Saturday, September 19, 2009

Let's talk about 'the sacredness of marriage', shall we?


So, I've had a full day - a few counseling sessions in the morning, followed by an afternoon of building my own shelving unit for the garage and then, in a veritable whirl of self-righteous activity, cleaned out the garage.

It's magnificent, if I do say so myself. Well, for a garage. And, the metal shelving is a bit, well, one-sided. Ms. Conroy and I about fell over laughing when it was done. Indeed, we'll probably giggle every time we look at it.

But, the garage is clean and orderly and all the junk will be picked up and taken to the dump on Monday. Well done, thou good and faithful servants.

I finished around six-thirty, came in, showered, fixed supper, put some spit and polish on tomorrow's sermon and then sat down to read this week's Time Magazine. The one with the picture of Glenn Beck on the cover. Sticking his tongue out.

I'm sure you'll be hearing about that in a few days.

A quote in the VERBATIM section caught my eye.

'The only thing that happens
is a check mark in a box in a courthouse.'


This is a verbatim quote, we are told, from one "Mary McCurnin, a Rancho Cordova, Calif., woman, on her decision to file for a divorce in order to reap financial benefits. By getting the divorce, McCurnin, who is happily married to husband Ron Bednar, becomes eligible to receive the Social Security payments owed to her deceased first husband."

As I'm preparing to do my nightly ablutions and before I say my prayers and turn off the light and go to bed to sleep, perchance to dream of the day when Ms. Conroy and I might be able to be married, I'm thinking to myself, "What the what?"

So, let me get this straight (as it were), the woman CAN get married, in fact, WAS married - 'happily' so - but if she stays married, as 'a woman of a certain age', she loses out on the death benefits of her deceased first husband.

So, the only way she could probably make ends meet in these tough economic times, was to divorce her second husband so she could collect the no doubt more substantial Social Security of her first, deceased husband.

Sounds like a smart economic move.

It's just a 'check mark in a box in a courthouse'.

So, tell me again about the 'sacredness of marriage'? And, why is it that LGBT people, who are fighting for the right to be married are a threat to the 'sacredness' of this great institution?

Indeed, I'm starting to wonder if Ms. Conroy and I, being 'women who are rapidly approaching being of a certain age' should NOT consider marriage. I mean, except for the 'sacredness' of it, I have to wonder if it would rapidly, ironically, become a Very Poor financial decision?

Why am I getting the sense that, instead of a dream, I'm going to have nightmares tonight?

5 comments:

JimB said...

It could be a bad financial decision. The particulars are different for each couple but social security and pension rules are so screwy that they account for a significant number of seniors who elect to "live in sin" especially in Florida.

FWIW
jimB

MadPriest said...

"approaching"

That would be with the gears in reverse then?

(Luv ya, really! But I really can't be expected to resist such gifts).

PseudoPiskie said...

When my friend Gord was dying with cancer, the doctors recommended we marry so I would get his Social Security. We didn't even discuss it.

Elizabeth Kaeton said...

Ah, you're too fast for me, Jonathan. Must be that I really do have my gears in reverse.

IT said...

Yes, we realize that in many senses, marriage was not fsically sensible.

On the other hand, we also felt that we had to claim the right, while it was available, because what it SAID really mattered more than the fiscal sacrifice.

Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a society where marriage didn't mean that a surviving family is left in poverty if a loved one died?