I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said “Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive. What they conceal is vital.” That’s not really relevant, but I liked the quote. Any time you can mis-attribute a quote to Lincoln and mention “bikini” in the same sentence…well that is a great way to start a blog post.
Statistics is not the subject today, but I have some interesting stats about the way we spend our time in life.
- The average person lives 77 years. 28,000 days. 670,000 hours. 40,000,000 minutes.
- A total of 23 years of that time, we are asleep. If that’s the case, all need to have better dreams.
- 12 years are spent working.
- 3 years are spent eating.
- 6 months are spent on the toilet, though your mileage may vary.
- 10 years are spent talking – women maybe more, men maybe less.
- 3 years are spent waiting on something – women maybe less, men maybe more (waiting on women).
- 1 year, on average, is spent praying.
- 2 years are spent on the phone.
I’m a man. I’m forty…four. Twenty-two years ago today The Wife and I were married. Half of my life I have been married. What have any of us done for half of our lives? Besides the things you learned before you were five (feed yourself, go boom-boom in the potty, read, etc.) what have you done for half of your life?
I do not remember not being married. I don’t mean that I have no memories before November 18, 1989. I mean I don’t remember what it is like to not be married. And that’s a good thing.
I remember what it was like not having cell phones and personal computers - we used a home phone, we had conversations with people, wrote letters to friends and used an encyclopedia (Who was the last encyclopedia salesman you knew? Fonzie?).
I remember when the local paper was the primary source of news – we’ve now gone from under-informed to information overload.
I remember when every other movie wasn’t a sequel, a remake or gimmicked into being 3D – yes, you had to have an idea to make a movie.
I remember when TV commercials didn’t show models in their underwear – I won’t comment further on grounds of self-incrimination.
I do not remember not being married, though. And that’s a good thing (at least I think it’s still a good thing. The Wife gets the underwear model thing is a joke, right?)
Our first meal together as a married couple, The Wife and I ate a Wendy’s in Chattanooga as we were driving to Disney World for our honeymoon. Tonight we’ll celebrate our anniversary in a dining room at Churchill Downs.
Since being married, we have lived at 8 different addresses and 5 different cities. We have actually lived in Louisville longer than any other place.
We have two kids and I don’t remember not having them around either. That, too, is a good thing. The Tall One showed up nearly 18 years ago and The Short One a little more than 13 years ago. Forty percent of my life as a parent? Seems longer.
Wherever we have lived and whatever challenges we have faced and changes we’ve ridden through…I have been blessed. Abraham Lincoln once said: “Happy wife…happy life”. If that is a true saying, then The Wife must be one ecstatic woman. Happy anniversary, honey.
