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By Caprice Coleman
My wife and I are celebrating our 18th anniversary!
Naturally, we made a few social media posts about it. Seems to be the norm when you reach a milestone or a proud moment. The posts received many well wishes from family and friends.
Every once in a while we’d get the obvious question: “How’d you do it?”
I intentionally didn’t answer on that day because I didn’t want to just throw something cliche out there, so I thought about it. Here’s my answer:
Marriage is like a paddle boat experience. Imagine two people picking out a paddle boat to ride on a lake. Unless the attendant assigns the boat, you and the one you’re riding with agree on one. The type of paddle boat you choose may come down to price, comfort or how much paddle effort will be needed.
The water moves in a familiar yet unpredictable way to many. What really matters is paddling at the same speed unless otherwise communicated.
There are times you’ll look over at the other one’s legs to see how hard they’re paddling and sometimes you’ll wonder if they’re paddling at all. It’s hard to tell and even harder if the current starts moving in a different direction. It really takes trust that the other is paddling or at least putting in their best effort.
One way to see how it’s going is to look at where you started. Are you unintentionally turning towards the left or right? Do you seem to be going in circles? Communicate and adjust accordingly. Problems arise when one tries to alter the direction without the other’s agreement.
Things can happen to either person that can add comfort and speed to your paddle boat, and once it’s on the boat it should benefit both. It works opposingly as well.
Rightly stated, marriage is a great work and can be great work. Choose someone you love enough to keep the paddle boat moving and headed in the right direction.
Our paddle boat has been afloat 18 years on Marriage Lake. There have been many upgrades and some setbacks, but we’re still paddling.
My advice: Don’t stop paddling unless you’re turning together.
Just something to think about. I call it a dose of Colemanism.
Caprice Coleman is ROH’s color analyst and has been wrestling for more than 20 years. He also is an ordained minister and motivational speaker. A Dose of Colemanism appears every Thursday.
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