Three children, nine grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and fifty years of marriage is what two star-crossed newlyweds from 1968 have to show for when it comes to love. For richer or poorer they have shown that the only thing you really need is love. She, a high school student who sings in the choir at church on Sunday's, was in love with him, a Navy man training for the SEAL team. So they married... and it's really that simple. Only a few months after their marriage he was deployed out to Vietnam to serve the USA in SEAL team 2, headed for the worst 8 months of both of their lives. There were times when she wouldn't hear from him, the longest amount of time being a long 6 months, where all she could do was worry and hope for her husband's safe return. Luckily, he did come back, ready to begin a family with the woman of his dreams. When asked if they had any advice for the youth of today they gave three simple tips to maintaining a long and loving relationship.
1. Make time to talk every day.
Every day you should make sure to have healthy conversation, even if it's only for a few minutes, to hear about the other's day and avoid drowning in the overflow of a social media world.
2. Listen to each other.
Although it may not be easy, be sure to keep an open ear and an open mind. It will be listening that helps you grow in love rather than talking alone. You get what you give.
3. Every day is not going to be a good day.
Sometimes life gets in the way and it would be naive to believe that happy couples are always happy. She said you have to take the good with the bad and make sure you never go to bed angry with each other. No problem is too big to be solved if you're in love.
As they sit in front of me, joking about memories and celebrating so many years of love, my grandpa still compliments my grandma with words of endearment. They sit surrounded by all that their love has given them and all we can do is stare back and thank them for providing us with a good example and a solid foundation of love to grow up on. Happy anniversary!
