Sometimes, the best way to handle people you don’t like is to turn their pettiness into your own entertainment.
This Redditor had a rocky relationship with his cousin’s fiancée. She was all about appearances, and he couldn’t care less. So when he casually suggested she skip sending him an expensive wedding invitation since he was already planning to attend, she lost it. Her over-the-top reaction was so ridiculous that he couldn’t resist pulling a small prank at the wedding—what he didn’t expect was just how perfectly it would land.
Read the full story below.
The man wasn’t on good terms with his cousin’s fiancée
Image credits: Newman Photographs / Pexels (not the actual photo)
But during the wedding, the universe handed him the perfect chance to get the last laugh
Image credits: Tara Winstead / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: RDNE Stock project / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: FilmYak
Image credits: cottonbro studio / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Most young Americans expect their marriages to last forever, but up to 50% will end in divorce
The relationship in this story had its fair share of red flags, so perhaps its failure shouldn’t have been surprising. But if you ask a young couple how long they expect to be married, their answer is almost always the same—forever.
In fact, Clark University psychologist Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, PhD, an expert on emerging adulthood, found in the 2012 Clark University Poll of Emerging Adults that 86% of surveyed Americans aged 18 to 29 expected their marriages to last a lifetime. As for those who didn’t, Arnett assumed they likely weren’t planning to marry at all.
Unfortunately, for many couples, forever turns out to be much shorter than they imagined. Research from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) shows that only 52% of women and 56% of men will reach their 20th wedding anniversary. And while overall divorce rates have declined, experts still estimate that 40% to 50% of marriages today will end in divorce.
Image credits: Vera Arsic / Pexels (not the actual photo)
What makes a marriage more likely to stand the test of time?
Interestingly, though, some factors can predict how likely a marriage is to go the distance.
Ethnicity is one of them. If you’re an Asian woman or a Hispanic man, there’s a 70% chance your marriage will last at least 20 years. For white women, white men, and black men, that number drops to just over 50%, while black women face the lowest odds at 37%.
Education also plays a major role. Women with a bachelor’s degree or higher are far more likely to reach their 20th anniversary compared to those with only a high school diploma—78% versus 41%, according to NCHS data.
Then there’s money—which can either strengthen a marriage or tear it apart. A 2009 report from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project found that couples with no financial assets are 70% more likely to divorce within three years than those with at least $10,000 in assets. And financial stress is no small issue—one in three (34%) partnered Americans say money is a frequent source of conflict in their relationships.
Of course, checking all the right boxes doesn’t guarantee a successful marriage, just like missing them doesn’t mean it’s doomed. But the truth is, marriage isn’t always easy. It’s a partnership. It’s a commitment. And if you want it to last, you have to be ready for the work that comes with it.
In the replies, the author shared that the rest of the family also had their fair share of issues with her
Readers, meanwhile, found the outcome pretty satisfying
