“for sicker and poorer’ means she hopes you dont get sick of her unless she financially kills you hence, poorer..
"Daddy said, 'Son, you better see the world.
I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leave.
But remember one thing, don't lose your head
To a woman who'll spend your bread'"
-- Rod Stewart
"There's nothing wrong with being incompatible, as long as he's got the income and she's pattable" -- Ogden Nash
In the mid-to-late 90's a Denver TV station put together an extended Human Interest Story on a Denver-area Boomer who was pushing 40 and getting no closer to his lifelong dream of establishing a family like the one he grew up in .... namely, a Dad whose job supports the family, and a Mom who stays home fulltime while the kids are young, moving to parttime work only after the last kid is in school, and ramping up after that.
His problem was that he couldn't find a woman who shared that dream. They had all been brought up with the feminist ideal of Having Your Cake & Eating it Too - continuing on with their high-powered rewarding career while simultaneously enjoying motherhood, (Hey, what are cheap nannies for, anyway?)
Every woman he dated turned out the same when it came to the point of discussing a future together, and so he broke off and then found another one he hoped would work out. (He must have done the breakups gently, as these ex-girlfriends were still good friends of his).
Finally giving up on this endless cycle, he looked into a "Ukranian Brides" matchmaking business with a Denver office that made VHS tapes of both the American men and the Ukranian women talking about themselves and their dreams, leading to letters, then phone calls, and finally if it got that far - to the man flying out to meet the woman and proposing if they still both liked what they saw. An interpreter assisted in all these phases.
The TV crew joined the story when the man approached the matchmaking service, and followed him out to Ukraine for the in-person meeting and the marriage proposal.
The wedding reception is the part I remember the best. The photojournalist was recording a number of the groom's ex-girlfriends who were sitting at the same table. They were saying things to each other like, "Why couldn't he have married one of us? What's wrong with us?"
They still didn't get it. That moment seemed especially poignant.