Today, people know actor Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett on Modern Family. But to us, he’ll always be Al Bundy, the miserable dad on the landmark Fox show Married… With Children.
Al was a woman’s shoe salesman. He had a conniving wife and two dysfunctional kids. He constantly tried to relive his high-school football glory days. He had to start his beat-up Dodge with a screwdriver. In short, Al was a loser.
But it’s precisely because he made such a mess of his life that Al has so much to teach the rest of us…
LESSON 1: Don’t Marry Young
Shortly after graduating from high school, Al got hitched to Peggy Wanker. Sure, he was drunk off his ass when he proposed, but stats prove that rushing into marriage — even if you’re sober — isn’t a great idea. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost half of all marriages in which the woman is less than 20 years old end in divorce within 10 years. Over 20, the odds of divorce plunge to about 25 percent. Sure, Al and Peggy beat the odds … but they weren’t happy about it.
