What’s having a wife like?

Not trying to start crap ... but ... here goes:

You say that life without a wife becomes meaningless after a certain age. [Essentially - Life is meaningless with no wife]

Yet you go on to state that you are a 30+ year married guy.

So, let me play devil's advocate here-
How can you know that life is meaningless with no wife, yet you've always had one of those creatures.
You have yet to try a 'life w/o wife' ...

For me, knowledge, experiences and travel are the tradeoff for the wife. I can pursue any kind of knowledge I fancy.
Biblical, natural, technical, musical, cultural ... you name it.
There is so much to know and do and experience in this world.
Why be tied down to someone who wants none of that?

I too would've been married for 33 years, had I stayed married. But with the STDs she was bringing home to the marriage bed, I probably would never have survived those 33 years. Thanks to the Divorce, I'm in great shape physically, mentally and financially.
She, however, is ate up with STD-riddled diseases ... can't leave the home or even work.
Serves her right .. being the kind of wife everyone despises.
I managed to escape with zero STDs (Thank GOD!)

Marriage ain't for everyone, and no, it does not make for a meaningless existence at all.

As time goes on they find a way to hate you.

It's like being in Hell.

Unless you REALLY REALLY want to reproduce, don't even think about it.

what they loved most about you when new becomes what they most despise later on.

De juice, ain't worth de squeeze!

Take it easy, mang

Fucking awesome. I couldn’t imagine going through life without my wife by my side. God got it right with man and woman.

She takes the role of your mah but ya get to fuck her.

Ya I think they stopped making those gems post 1984..

Did you ever get a root canal? LOL!

We're still around, but when you expect all of the above plus us to hold a 40+ hour job, we break out the hatchet.

A death sentence.

After I get done burning down the green Amazon and the IRS.

I will hatchet Scarlette out of my life.

Fuck this.

It's like Hell, except worse.

Some blokes marry twice, three times ...

As Oscar Wilde said, (Oscar was a cock-sucking homosexual) marrying is the triumph of hope, over experience.

I don’t remember how many husbands Elizabeth Taylor had...

Different ones? ... or how many times she was married?

One came back for multiple doses, obviously HE was not the sharpest knife in the Hollywood Drawer.

We need a photo of you so we can determine if you are in the acceptable range of the crazy/hot matrix

It's like having a Rottweiler on steroids

Yeah, seven different ones.

Oh, my... I love love her films, Cleopatra was my favorite one! When I was little I used to say that I want to have lots of husbands like Liz Taylor... my father used to laugh about it but when I was like 14 years old he was very strict and traumatized me with his lectures...

Liz Taylor: seven husbands, but eight marriages

[link to www.telegraph.co.uk (secure)]

:1049mona: ... no pics!

Nice call.

What it's like having a wife is dependent on your age, expectations, your life experience and personality, as well as hers, and of course your financial situation, where you live, etc

Change any one of those and it will alter the dynamic of a relationship.

However, since you're asking the question above then you most likely have not yet even had a long term girlfriend. Do that first.

To answer your question - What's having a wife like? (And I hope you mean your wife, vs other men's wives! That can get you killed even today, believe it or not!)

I think the best answer is that; it depends on love.

There is an intense lust that can last for weeks or months. Or it can evaporate at dawn. It's hard to tell the difference when you're young and when you're past 40, it doesn't happen much anymore. Thank heavens! But you may miss it once it's gone, at least occasionally.

Then there is a deep and abiding fondness for a female friend. Yes, it can turn sexual from time to time. Usually with mediocre results in the sack. But you both care for each other so you both pretend it was great. (It probably wasn't even close to being great.) That pretense, coupled with your fondness for each other, can lead you into marriage. Usually, divorce happens within five years. Seven at the outside. There are some things we just cannot fake - at least not for long. The saddest thing is if there are children involved. You're going to screw them up by the mere fact that their once stable home was torn apart. Be ready to pay for therapy for several years if you can. Both for the kids and yourself! Cheaper by far to not make that mistake. The emotional wear and tear it will save you is incalculable. When a marriage fails, it always fails at a far higher price to you emotionally than anything it may cost you financially.

There is a variation on the above paragraph. Friends who pass their 'sell-by' date. Women cannot really demand a big wedding past 33 or maybe 35 at most. Men, the cut-off date seems to be about 37-39. Some of us are on our 2nd or 3rd marriage by 40. (I was... and in retrospect, it was idiocy but didn't seem so at the time.)

Then there is the 'friendship' that is sexually cool at first. You're buddies. She or He is fun and your friend. Then one of you is forced to be away for a while. Maybe a month, maybe six months. Or longer. Then (and it seems suddenly) you both realize how deeply you are missing your "friend". Fate brings you back together, and guess what? Passion suddenly clicks on and boom - you're walking down the aisle and saying "I DO" again. But this time to each other. Oddly enough those relationships that didn't start off as a lust-driven thing, and when you both have had time to know each other, develop a friendship and find shared values, likes and dislikes, and even shared goals - then you have a chance at lasting love. Take care of him or her and you may have it for the rest of your life. One little piece of advice to you guys - trust, but check. Women feel neglected if there is not a healthy bit of jealousy on your part. Not the insane macho bullshit where you punch every guy that looks at her. But enough to check up once in a while. If she's going to a girlfriends for cards some evening, it doesn't hurt to drive by there to make sure her car is parked there, too. Or you can turn on the "share my location' on her cellphone and know at least where the phone is and hopefully where your wife is, too. When women feel neglected or abandoned emotionally, they're inclinded to cheat. But she won't usually just have a casual lay as men do. They're built differently and for her, sex is inexorably linked to feelings. She'll 'fall' for someone else. Better to prevent it than to be forced to try to fix it. Trust me on that one.

THIS
To make a marriage work there has to be give and take on both sides.
Been married 40 years, my greatest joy is watching my wife interact with the grandchildren.

Like hell

You're not doing it right. Like not doing your research and buying a shitty car that drains the bank. You're just not very good at the game of life

Most inspiring. Today you are house trained, living with raccoons and raiding rural trash cans at night. Good show!! ; )

Judging by the responses thus far:

Wife is like a box of chocolates, you never know which one you'll get!