Till death do us part

It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages, said Nietzsche. He may be on to something, says Lorraine Kearney

- Lorraine Kearney

Let’s start in the manner of the queen. After all, she and Prince Philip were married – happily, it seemed – for 74 years. A lifetime, really. If anyone should know a thing or two about love, it’ll be them.

So, my husband and I got married on Halloween more than a quarter of a century ago. We should never have done that. Get married on Halloween, I mean. We definitely should have got married, we just should have picked a different day. First of November, maybe.

You see, we have not celebrated our anniversary for 21 years, since Child The First was born. You may think he is too old to interrupt such things now, but Child The Second came along and is still putting the kibosh on anything anniversary related.

Instead, our wedding anniversary has been spent planning and making creepy costumes, putting up scary decorations, one of us staying at home and handing out sweets to the neighbouring trick or treaters while the other walks five paces behind our own trick or treaters as they ring on doorbells.