because if you know Lucy like some of us know Lucy, you will notice that in
"The Courtroom" episode regarding the broken television, it was mentioned they were married 25 years...in the episode (shown a year later), "Ricky Minds the Baby" it is mentioned they are married 23 years, while the episode abt going to a club or the fights, it is stated they are married 18 years...an episode that was shown two years prior to "Ricky minds the baby"..:crazy:

I thought I heard on "Ethel's Birthday episode that Fred mentioned to Lucy that he has been buying Ethel birthday gifts for 26 years. Maybe he bought her a gift while they were dating. I took as being married for 26 years.
Then on the Swiss Alps episode Ethel was marrried at age 24. I always wonder how old Ethel was. We do know she was between 40 and 50 for Fred mentioned that in "Ethels birthday."

we'll probably never know, it's likely the writers' goof-ups.