Czech Is In The Mail

 

“But, you can't marry this man you've known only four days. You've known head waiters longer.” James Cagney in “The Bride Came C.O.D.
 (1941)

The smile:

I tried to count my cousins one time. Being from an old Southern family this is a much bigger task than someone not from the South may imagine. There were more “begots” than a chapter in the Old Testament and I learned I can’t really date anyone in Chester County for fear of making our family tree grow straight up.

I have one cousin that I was particularly close when we were kids. We still stay in touch though I find less time to make it to the little house he lives on the long dirt road that leads to nowhere. I recently went to visit and as we caught up he showed me the JC Penny’s catalog he had been browsing. He flipped past a few pages of the models and exclaimed, “Look how beautiful these women are!” I shook my head in agreement as he continued, “I think I may order one.”

Puzzled I inquired, “One f those women?”

He vigorously nodded and told me, “It says mail order right on the back of the book. I’m going to get me one of these pretty mail order brides.”

I snickered and let the subject pass.

A few days later I was back home and my cousin’s mail order bride came to mind. Laughing to myself, I gave him a call and asked, “Did you get that girl in the mail yet?”

He excited responded, “Not yet, but she has to be coming soon. All of her clothes got here today.”

The ponder:

According to www.divorcestatitics.info “The marriage breakup rate in America for first marriage is 41% to 50%; the rate after second marriage is from 60% to 67% and the rate in America for 3rd marriage are from 73% to 74%.”…..That really makes me sad...

Dr. Robert J. Scholes in a report to Congress stated “marriages arranged through these services would appear to have a lower divorce rate than the nation as a whole, fully 80 percent of these marriages having lasted over the years” which translates into a 20% divorce rate…

It makes me wonder two things:

1)Is it easier to make things work as a couple if you don’t share a lot of the same background, culture, et?

2) What makes that 50% to 59% of couples that don’t divorce work?