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‘Happy Wife, Happy Life?’ How about ‘Happy Spouse, Happy House’ Instead?
Zach Rosenberg believes the cliché “happy wife, happy life” is a terrible mantra to live by.
Here’s a proposition: let’s find a replacement for the mantra “happy wife, happy life.” I’ve never found that simply making my wife happy inherently made me happy. Oh sure, I enjoy doing things for my wife that make her happy. And in turn, that makes me more or less happy. But if we’re talking about down-to-brass-tacks, real, soul-filling happiness, I need something more out of my marriage.
Every man, the day after he’s married (unless you immediately jet-set off to your honeymoon), hears “happy wife, happy life” primarily from…well, his wife. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to hear it from your mother-in-law as well.
Men got stiffed on this because, well, nothing rhymes with husband. I’ve checked. And saying “Happy Husband and he’ll go to work every day and maybe go to war and raise two children with you and when it’s time, empty the retirement fund and you’ll both go on that really cool looking Alaska cruise” just doesn’t sound as catchy.
The phrase has its roots in logic. When a woman’s “place” was in the home, she was, in essence, in charge of the…
