40

I took the weekend off from blogging because I wanted to spend the weekend with my bride of 40 years. Sunday was our 40th anniversary. We didn't do anything real special over the weekend just the stuff we do all the time. Spend time together and enjoy each others company.

It would be a fair question to ask. How do you stay married for 40 years? I wish I had a good answer. Maybe the best one is the one we usually tell people when they ask. Be stubborn. There are times, and we have had them, when it would have been easier to quit. Just throw in the towel and say the hell with it. There were kids to raise and they deserved two parents in the house. There were more reasons to stay together than there were to move apart. Sometimes you just have to be willing to struggle through the rough patches. It smooth's out eventually. Sometimes there are more bills than money. Sometimes there is chicken and noodles for every meal for a week. Sometimes the car doesn't work. There are always things that happen. Friday was a good example of how things don't go as planned. We had the heating and cooling folks out to give our system the once over before we head into winter here. We have a heat pump and found out it was 12 years old and on its last legs. The salt air here doesn't do them any favors. The system needed to be replaced. As a matter of fact while I am typing this they are working on installing the new system. So what does my lovely wife get for her 40th anniversary. A new heat pump and air handler. It apparently is the traditional gift for your 40th anniversary. The good news for me is that it wasn't our 50th anniversary because I would have been required to get the gold heat pump.

A final thought on long marriages. It is easier to accomplish when you can look at your family and see examples of how marriages can stand the test of time.

 This handsome couple are my maternal grandparent John and Harriet.

 This is John and Harriet 50 years later. Were those 50 years always easy? I have read parts of her journals and know that they were not. Somehow they managed and showed us that it was possible to enjoy a lifetime together.

 This is my parents John and Anna celebrating their wedding. Were things always easy for them? Of course not, they had three boys to raise. They remained married through good times and bad until Dad's passing in 1999.

Here we are at Benny's on Tybee Island yesterday afternoon enjoying some time together. We went in for a beer and had our bartender Wanda take this picture for us. I wonder in 10 years if we will look like the picture of John and Harriet up above. I hope so.