Before You Get Married, Pressure Test It!

It’s going to get absurd, in ways you cannot imagine, so see what you are getting into, to know if you can deal with it — or them!

Part of my running list on my phone is things to test out as a kind of “premarital counseling” for couples who think they want to get married. Some of it is meant to be funny, but it’s also taken from real life experience.

Temperament and Expertise

• Put together IKEA furniture
• Set up camp / a tent together under threat of rain or dark
• Get up before dawn on a time crunch
• Move a piece of furniture through a narrow opening
• Going on a trip that involves at least a plane and train / ferry
• Be sick together, at the same time (or hungover)

Social Tests

• Go to a black tie event
• Attend a stressful family event
• Make a list of tasks that go into…