Today my wife and I celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary; time moves at a fast clip. We are slowing down a bit at this point but are still willing to get up every morning. We have two daughters who have married brothers. We have four grandchildren who are double first cousins. It is a nice mix.
During the past 41 years there have been many ups and downs, more ups I guess as we are still going. One thing about marriage is that you certainly get to know each other better over the years. The influences of life skew the development of personality; people can and do change. Married life seems a bit better than single life, particularly if one or the other needs help. Research purports that men live longer if they are married. I think it just seems longer.
Living single is only for those that enjoy taking care of themselves in almost every aspect of life. It seems obvious that talking to oneself only must get a bit tedious. Still no conflicting opinions can make things simpler. I know a couple of folks who live the single life and for the most part seem happy. I don't think I would have been so. That doesn't mean I can't live alone. A second marriage is not for me should my wife die first; at this point neither of us is leaving.
Tolerance and patience are virtues upon which a successful marriage is built. Love is the beginning but it doesn't conquer all despite the greeting card writers admonitions.
One interesting thing about aging and children is that they only come around when wanting something; a favor or babysitting. That's all right as they have lives and will experience the same thing as time goes on. Another aging trait seems to be record setting. I have noticed that as people pass various milestones their consciousness of such events makes them want to last longer than their friends or anyone else for that matter.
Several of my friends habitually read the obituaries to make sure their name hasn't appeared, then cross check the ages against their own, and finally see if anyone they know of or personally have died. This is another form of humanity's desire to make lists and compile statistics. Some consider this morbid but I think it is quite normal even though I have no interest in such activities. I get the odd email reminding of someone I knew who has passed on to whereever but that is the extent of my interest.
Age is exempting me from reading the newspaper or even worrying about current events as such things never change only the actors are replaced by new power hungry leaders.
A long marriage keeps life in perspective I highly recommend it.
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