What's up with the prenupt?

Amazing what God presents in experiences and nature ….

In mid-March over two years ago, seven former students converged on St. Louis for a friend’s wedding. All seven, two females, five males graduated from the same high school eight years earlier and had dropped in to visit me. All worked professional careers. Three of the males and one female were already married while Rick and Lindsay were engaged separately to marry sometime during the next year. I changed the names to protect the rascals of whom I write. Employed with a leading Denver firm, Rick, a lawyer from a prestigious university had drafted a prenuptial agreement, a legal contract entered into prior to marriage commonly including provisions for division of property and spousal support in the event of divorce or breakup of marriage. 

“What’s up with the prenupt?” Lindsay, an engaged first year medical resident questioned her classmate’s motive.

“I got a prenupt,” Jim, a computer software engineer, raised his shoulders casually.“So did I.” My chemical engineer’s tone added credibility as if it was up to a vote.  “Why all the policies to fail?” I inquired surprised it seemed the norm in this group.  “Nothing’s guaranteed anymore?” Rick countered. “I don’t want my fiancé to clean me out if she tires of me.” His eyes glimpsed those who agreed with him.

“So you think she’s going to bail on you?” Samantha, a married nurse chuckled.

Rick, a former football player and avid outdoorsman, warned, “You laugh now, but wait until Peter’s finished with law school ….” Rick knew Samantha was working to support Peter through law school.

“You lived together before you got married, didn’t you Mr. Morrison?” Mark, an actuary for a reputable medical insurance company, had lived with his wife eighteen months while drafting his prenupt before saying “I do.”


I grimaced, “No, my wife and I would have never married if we’d have lived together first. (that’s another story for another day) Too easy to walk out rather than deal with difficult situations or hurdles we’d need to address. We dated four years before marrying.” I admitted.


“Wow, that’s almost twice as long as any of us have dated,” Lindsay laughed, beaming. “You ever think about drafting a prenupt or a policy to fail?”


“No. If I thought I needed one, she wasn’t the girl for me.”


“I’d feel objectified, if my fiancé wanted me to agree to a prenupt.” Lindsay challenged the male cohort. “If anyone deserves one, it’s Sam. She’s supporting her husband before he makes the big bucks.”


The former athletic star stirred the pot with an old friend, “And he could be making the move out the closer he gets to finishing.”

“Rick, you played on a good football team when you were here, yet your team lost a couple critical games. If you could have purchased no-loss insurance before the season so that you’d be guaranteed a perfect season, would you have purchased it?” I, his former coach, offered legal fiction.


With a wild smile, he laughed, “No. You know me. I’d never improve or work at it if I was always guaranteed a win.”


“So …”


He interrupted me. “My fiancé’s not a game … and marriage shouldn’t come down to work. Besides I’m making everything visible, bringing it all to the table.”


“Get out of here!” Lindsay and Samantha pushed simultaneously questioning Rick’s foresight. “Impossible to make everything visible.”

Time squeezed our conversation as I needed to move onto my next class and they needed to meet more of their friends before the evening ceremony.


“Rick, I’m headed to Rocky Mountain National Park for a family reunion end of July. You want to join some of my relatives and me for a summit hike?” I invited my enthusiast along for a climb.
 
“Sure, let me know.” Their conversation continued as they exited along the hallway.

Four months passed before Rick joined me and some of my relatives to ascend the 14255 foot climb to Longs Peak, a round trip hike of nearly fifteen miles. Signing the National Park’s log at 3 AM for a noon arrival, we hiked beneath a full moon through Goblins heavy forest. The trail glowed along switchbacks eventually leading us above the tree line before sunrise. Pausing to eat a cereal bar, we silently glimpsed the sun shining off Mt. Lady Washington with rays pointing to Granite Pass. We continued hiking along Mills Moraine to the Chasm Lake trail junction, 11550’. Little water showered over the 250’ falls in the distance well off our trail. Within a cradle of such magnificent grandeur, warm conditions evaporated all water. Scarce, we accounted for volume to ration water for everyone during the remainder of our hike.

Climbing elevation to Granite Pass, we eventually reached the Boulder Field, near 12400’. 13300’ Storm Peak split drifting clouds to the south. Tired, what looked like gravel from a distance transformed to twenty and thirty foot boulders exhausted us as we approached. During the occasions I’ve summited Longs Peak, clearing the Boulder Field to reach the Keyhole, a rock shelter constructed to protect from bad weather, defined the hike. Without trail, we followed cairns scrambling on all fours over enormous vertical boulders to the rugged Keyhole.  

Diminishing water and high altitude whittled away at our crew. The pace slowed immensely. Dangerous 700’ to 800’ Glacier Gorge dropped off the cliff trails enticing the climbers with their beauty. At 13300’, we entered the Trough for steep, deliberate, exhausting climbing to a small opening at 13700’. We paused briefly for a snack and some water.

Less than 600 strenuous feet in elevation to the summit through the Narrows, we could not see it for we were too close, pinned to steep rock walls. My relatives packed their water and pushed forward. Rick began to stand, but I press down on his shoulder to reseat him. “You’re not going to the summit,” I stated firmly.


My former student’s confusion bordered anger.  

“Remember the prenupt you drafted?” I failed to hide my smile. “Signing your prenupt to marriage is like hiking through the beauty, the struggles, the danger, and then quitting the climb to the summit.” 


He chuckled a satisfying guttural laugh. I extended a hand to help my young lawyer stand. He followed me through the Homestretch to the large, flat, unbelievable summit!