Marriage Is: Good Days and Bad Days As a child, I had an innocent view of life getting better as a straight and steady 45-degree inclined line. But as life progressed, a different pattern became obvious - waves, undulating good and bad. It's just the way it is. And no matter what you do, how good you are or how hard working, circumstantial stuff unpredictably affects your life. Exhibit A: Marriage. One morning you turn over and are awe-struck by their sleeping face, compelled to reverently kiss their forehead. The next morning you roll over and inhale their noxious morning breath, and small offenses mount like hash marks on a prison wall: Left his beer can out last night for me to pick up. Didn't do the dishes last night like I asked him to. Didn't breathe right when I told him goodbye before work. Mental note: give him the cold shoulder and a snide remark about the dishes later tonight. And sometimes it is that childish, even if it may not be that conscious. Ri...