Milestone

June 14, 1969 – 51 years ago today  – my husband and I made the promise to share the rest of our lives.  Both sets of parents thought we were making a mistake. We happily made the promises anyway, ‘riding off into the sunset’ together, our whole lives ahead of us.

51 years later, we are still going strong.

Marriage is one of the most important promises you will ever make. It’s the hardest job you will ever have. It’s an evolving work-in-progress that will sometimes require more than you think you have to give. Merging two lives is difficult, to say the least. You will grow and change, and hopefully continue to build a stronger and stronger bond as the years pass. It’s a union that will bring some of the very best moments you will have in your life.  Bad things will happen, but you are stronger together than either of you is alone.  Sometimes you will feel so close your heart spills over. Other times you want to bite each other in the leg. If you each feel that you are giving 150%, it is probably coming out pretty even. In some ways, I can’t believe it has been 51 years (‘officially’, my husband says, since we dated for 8 years before marrying.) In other ways, it seems we have ALWAYS been halves of a stronger whole.

Last year, on our 50th anniversary, my husband said we had a good start, but that he wanted another 50 years. I have told him that I will do everything in my power to give that to him. We don’t know what is in store in the future, but we will face whatever comes together.