We have all seen the movie The Notebook. Men do not be afraid to say that you were forced to watch it way more than you want to admit it. It is just a movie, yes, but it also leaves you feeling with a sense of hope and happiness. We all pray and wish for this kind of love someday, to have someone to grow old with. It is rare to meet couples that were like Ally and Noah, the ones who met when they were in their early 20's, had some bumps in the road, and then eventually make it back to each other and never leave each others side from that day on.

We may think that just because it's a movie, it is not possible to see couples like this in "real life." I'm talking about young love, when you are only just beginning to find out what love feels like, and then you blink and you start a family. If you like country music, then you know how Kenny Chesney definitely hit home with one of his songs "Don't Blink."

Eventually, your kids move out and start their careers, and they start families of their own. It is back to just you and your sweetheart living together like you did when you first got married. However, this is when you FINALLY become a grandparent... congratulations, you are officially going to be the favorite especially when mom and dad say no.

Ally and Noah's relationship from The Notebook, makes you wonder if there really are couples who have grown old together like they did, and if this type of love really can exist in this world. Lucky for me, I have had the privilege of getting to witness seeing a couple grow and flourish, a pair that has been married for 67, soon to be 68 amazing years... my grandparents. They have been married since my Pap was twenty-one and my Nan was nineteen. My Pap will now be 90 years old in August, and my Nan will be 88 in June. I have learned so many amazing things from them about love, and sacrifice, the good times, and the bad.

I have been so blessed to witness the kind of love expressed in a movie, and I always tell people that they are truly just like Noah and Ally. No matter where we take them out in public, everyone is just in awe how cute they are, and at the same time are taken away when they hear their story.

Since I have had the blessing of witnessing them together for so long, and at the same time still having them here on Earth with me for this long, I am forever changed, and shaped into the person I am and will continue to become because of them.

I have learned so many amazing life lessons, and things watching their relationship grow for 67 years; partially from their stories and witnessing them grow together.

1. You must fight for the ONE you love.

My Nan always tells me the story of how she and my Pap broke up at one point, and he started seeing someone else. To win him back she put dimes and a note in his car. Oh how amazing those times were before when you physically had to make more of an effort to win someone back rather than just text them a long novel with a great sense of hope that they will respond. Never give up on your soulmate.

2. Your love for your companion only continues to grow.

You are only going to age and see each other with more wrinkles as time passes by. You don't look now like you did when you first married one another. My Nan's long luscious locks, and my Pap's perfectly slicked back comb over are no longer doable, but you still think that they are handsome and beautiful. They truly are. You are more in love now though, in your late 80's then you were when you were young and crazy. Your physical traits do not matter as much anymore anyway, it's more about your heart being happy.

3. You couldn't be any more affectionate towards your lover if you tried.

Throughout their long marriage, they were affectionate, like many married people are. No matter if I am visiting them at their house, or we are waiting at Olive Garden to be seated, my Nan always has her hand resting on my Pap's leg, and wherever we go, he takes her by the arm.

4. They are and forever will be the very best of you.

When you are together for this long, your partner knows everything about you. They know you inside out. Your other half completes you, and you cannot imagine what will happen when the day comes that you must separate for a little while, until you are both with GOD in Heaven. They bring out the best in you, and this simply makes them your person, the one who is the very best of you.

5. Without trust and communication, your relationship will crumble.

My Pap has always been more of the soft-spoken one, whereas my Nan would tell him if she didn't like something, or just in general she has never been afraid to speak her mind. This has always worked for them though, even if they were in an argument, they always got through it because they confronted one another.Trust and communication were always some of their strengths.

6. Always keep GOD your number one.

They have gone to church every single Sunday together since the beginning of their marriage. They have lived across the street from a Church, in the same hours that my mom grew up in. The last couple of years as they have aged and my Nan started having trouble walking, is the first in sixty something years that they have not gone together every Sunday. GOD has always been their number one, and their faith has only gotten stronger and stronger.

7. You will be more in love in your 80's than your 20's.

Again, despite the increase in wrinkles, and not having the same physique that you did when you were 20, you will only continue to become more in love with your best friend. I see my Nan and Pap holding hands, kissing more, and spending each and every second of every day attached at the hip more than they ever have. I think that when you are together for that many years, it is more about still having one another, and loving them more than you ever thought was possible. You still see the beauty in one another, and you could not possibly be more in love at this very moment right now.

I hope that many of you get to witness a couple like my Nan and Pap in your lifetime. They are truly a legend, and admired by so many people. My life will forever be positively changed by the life lessons that I have learned from them, and the impact that they have made on my life. Thank you Nan and Pap for changing me, and making me into the young woman I am today.