~WARNING: this blog post contains a really scary spider.~
“Tell me again why we need these?” We were surrounded by mountains of cardboard boxes, and the Hub was staring in disbelief at the one he’d just opened. The one containing (not one but three!) toilet roll holders, each with storage space for even more rolls. Then there was the copiously bubble-wrapped Taub Memorial Collection of Matching Liquid Handsoap Dispensers and Soap Dishes. He is completely mystified by my need to move perfectly accessible stashes of TP from where they belong—the floor next to the toilet (still in their original packaging, of course)—while at the same time decanting liquid soap from a perfectly usable plastic container into a different container. (And don’t even get him started on my compulsive need to run that dishwasher just because it’s full of dirty dishes when anyone can tell there is room to cram in at least one more coffee cup, or to throw away perfectly good leftovers just because they’ve been marinating in the back of the fridge long enough to have the cure for cancer culturing on their fuzzy surfaces…) Wives are weird like that.
But this all reminded me that months ago, I wrote about the top ten reasons not to get married (for women). Several people asked for equal time for men, so I’m repeating the post below. Meanwhile, I’ve got to get back to unpacking moving boxes—hopefully, I’ll beat him to the one with the coasters, cloth napkins, and little bird statues before we have THAT discussion again…)
Your mother told you. Your friends warned you. Study after study showed you the facts: men who are married are richer and healthier. They live longer too. (No, it doesn’t just seem that way…)

‘It became fashionable in the 1970s for the humiliated Thai wife to wait until her husband fell asleep, then sever his penis with a kitchen knife.’ Photo credit: Alamy
This is the point where the dedicated unmarried bring up the relationship stories like, “Southern California woman convicted of cutting off the penis of her then-husband and throwing it into a garbage disposal.”
Okay, guys, you can uncross your legs now. And actually, the odds are with you. Even though 50% of marriages end in divorce, the vast majority of some of occasionally those do not involve genital reattachment surgery. Moving on…
In addition to making men richer, healthier, and older, there are other advantages to marriage. Here are my ten top reasons for men to get married:
10. Sex. You’ll get regular sex without paying for dinner or pretending to enjoy chick flicks.
9. Guys can’t find things. Wives can. Y-chromosomes keep men from being able to move their eyeballs away from the item directly in front of them (unless it is wearing a bikini) or locate items covered by other items.

Honey, have you seen the milk or the cat? (Married men know the uterus is a tracking device.) [photo credit: Best-Memes
- Toys. Kids have much better ones these days, and Dad gets to play with them.

Your kids will have much better toys than you ever got. [image credit: lustich.de]
- Trains. Dads have been known to spend decades in the basement, “working on the kids’ trains”.

This is like one of those psychological tests where two people look at the same picture and see different things. For example, some men may see why playing with the kids’ trains is so much fun. To others, this represents sex after years of marriage. [Image credit: memeguy]
- You get to embarrass your kids. And the best part is you don’t have to do a damn thing. Breathing pretty much nails it.

Please let me be adopted, please, please, please… [photo credit: The Chive]

I’ll have what she’s not having. [image credit: wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net]
6. Power tools. You’ll get them. If you’ve got a yard bigger than your bathroom, you’ll need a power mower, preferably kind you ride on, with interchangeable attachments that can double as a military vehicle in case of World War III. Married men need and deserve them.

[image credit: gifak.net]
4. The Kitchen Fairy and Bathroom Fairy will move in. Be especially nice to the Bathroom Fairy, because she knows the magic to make the vacuum turn on. The Kitchen Fairy is great too. Even though you’re a modern millennial-type guy who knows you’ll have to share the TV remote (eventually) and is perfectly willing to cook a meal pierce the film, the Kitchen Fairy has magic spells passed down through the ages for producing food in pots and pans. If it makes you feel better, you should know that the fairies really, really want you there. Who else would whap the spiders?

[Image credit: CollegeHumor.com]
3. Shopping. No, you’ll still have to do it. But you’ll never have to make another decision again, even about her present because she’ll tell you exactly what to get there too. Win-win.
2. You won’t grow old and die alone and two weeks later when the neighbors complain about the smell, they’ll find you, sitting with your old-geezer bathrobe gaping open, with flies on your eyeballs and your dog eating exposed parts of your anatomy. So there’s that. [Oops, sorry guys! Tell you what — just keep those legs crossed. We’re almost done here…]

Superman regretted that he made Lois forget the location of his Fortress of Solitude. Now he can’t remember either. [image credit: TerryMoore.com]
And what is the top reason for men to get married (other than being richer, healthier, getting lots and lots of sex, and never having to worry about remembering your mother’s birthday, because the Kitchen and Bathroom Fairies are all over that one)? You’ll be with the one person who knew you when you were younger, cooler, and had more hair. And she still sees you that way.
And there’s the sex thing.
Haha, brilliant post, although I nearly dropped my iPad when I scrolled to the mahoosive spider eeek!!
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I know. That spider is just about the BEST reason ever to keep some testosterone around the place…
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Haha, unfortunately my two strapping sons are a couple of wimps so it’s still down to me whenever a wasp, bee, spider, or, well, anything, invades the house!!
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You’re right. I know you’re right. When my son left for University, my youngest daughter took up spider-trapping. When she left, it was down to me or the dog, since the Hub’s superpower is being in a foreign country when spider (or bat) emergencies arise.
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well my wife’s best friend (when they shared a flat as students) provided the best solution to the spider in the sink problem which was to scream f*** off at it while threatening it with a kettle of boiling water… she couldn’t actually pour the water though and the spider, rather miraculously disappeared back the way it had come.
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So THAT’S what I’ve been doing wrong all these years? I’ve been trying to reason with my spiders when obviously they only respond to full-decibel death threats.
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It pays to be verbally ruthless
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Honestly, if I was married the omnly thing that would change was that I could hide from the spider together with my wife … well, and maybe scare sex.
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A fantastic post. Thanks, Barb! Somebody had to say it!
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Thanks Olga!! So glad you liked it. Sorry about the spider.
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Thanks for the chuckle, Barb. 🙂
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Thanks Marje. Happy Friday!
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And to you too Barb. 🙂
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Right on!! Couldn´t have said it better. From just another kitchen fairy. (who is a vegetarian but delicious meat dishes still appear out of the magical kitchen)
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Those fairies rock!
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Brilliant Barb – as I’m on the cusp of becoming a mother-in-law I feel the need to share with my son-in-law to be 😉
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Or maybe not?
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You are such an acute observer! Embarrassing kids…breathing suffices…the kitchen and bathroom fairies and so on . . .haha Thanks for the giggles!
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Just telling it like it is!
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Thank you, Barb – for making me choke on the last of the mini eggs today!
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Mini-eggs: the silent Easter killer. So glad I don’t need to have that on my conscience.
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Reblogged this on June Kearns.
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Thank you SO much for the reblog–esp after your near death-by-mini-eggs trauma.
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well, you know, Barb you pretty much nailed it save you rather underplayed the sex thing if I might offer a male perspective – and that bit about faking it? That can’t be, can it?
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Well obviously it could never have happened in your case. My bad.
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Indeed!
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Reblogged this on Kate McClelland.
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Awesome post, I don’t only tell my husband what to buy me as presents, I actually do him a huge favour and buy them for him on his credit card [smile].
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You’re my hero!
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Great reasons but my Hubs likes number 9 – he swears he married me for the metal detector in the uterus. It finds car keys!
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I was good right up to the spider. Would have to leave that one to the moving company.
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Hysterical, Barb. I was considering sharing it with hubs, but I’m not quite sure he’d make it past the pic of the knife.
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Yeah, the Hub had a problem with that one too. “But it’s just not funny!”
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And, strangely, I’ve never married. Who knew what I was missing out on…
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So… basically you’re a free-lance spider whapper?
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I never whap spiders, Barb. Though I might have been tempted with the one in the video
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This is so perfect, Barb. I’m bookmarking and plan to read it to my husband for each anniversary going forward. Never hurts to remind him how lucky he is, right?
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Sounds like he’s lucky to have found you.
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Great post. I am so thankful I divorced him…
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Except for the spider-whapping (unless he got custody of all the arachnids). Of course, we women are strong and capable of much spider carnage but somehow, I still scream like a little girl when confronted with those eight legs. I just immediately feel so outnumbered…
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My husband is the most gentle spider catcher (of course not that big)—he even apologizes to them and thanks them for keeping the flies away! But out they go—my house means no spiders on the inside!!
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
#seniorsalon
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I have to agree with you. Certainly we try to rehome them when possible, but for so many spiders, a burial at sea with full [toilet flushing] honors is the best we can provide.
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What if they are spiders who can hold their breath and swim? I’d never use that toilet again. 🙂
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Oh great. Bad enough I can’t (ever) take a shower without first checking for Norman Bates?Now I have to worry about snakes, crocodiles, AND spiders while I’m trying to have a quiet sit on the porcelain throne? Eileen, you’re going to make my future therapists rich.
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I’ve said it before, but I simply must say it again: you are a HOOT! Loved it – thanks for posting to the Senior Salon or I might have missed it.
This post reminds me of a Roseanne Barr standup routine (decades ago now) that included a nasal voiced whiny mock of her hub’s complaint following the assertion that men seem to believe that the uterus is a tracking device:
” ‘Roseanne, where are the Cheetos?’ – as if he can’t lift up the couch cushions and look for hisself!” [sic]
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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Thanks so much for those kind words. And Roseanne Barr (as so often!) nailed it
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I thought she was best before the sitcom years – LOVED her stand-ups.
xx,
mgh
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I have to agree. Roseanne for prime time lost so much in the translation.
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Okay … okay … already … you’ve convinced me. I wanna get married for the first time!
Now that you’ve started the ball rolling, ya got any suggestions? I take it you’re not available (more’s the pity). I can’t wait to have a wife so that she find my stuff for me.
AND “The one containing (not one but three!) toilet roll holders …” What is it with you guys and your dog and toilet paper.
I’m sorry. I get it now. You gotta put those holders up around the house for Peri.
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Sorry…I’ve finally got my spider-whapper trained up, so I’m not looking for an exchange.
But Andrew, you have the PERFECT wife-bait. How could any woman resist Danny the Dog? All you have to do is drop (repeatedly) into the conversation how much Danny misses a woman’s touch, and you’ll be whapping those marital spiders by Christmas. That is, if Danny approves your choice. Hmmm… that could be a tough one.
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The funny part about this hysterical post is that a lot of it is true🤤
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Sadly, true…
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