Reflections on 50 years of marriage
I’m in the middle of a series I call “So What?” examining various beliefs and values I have, mostly related to my faith, and what impact they have on me. One topic is marriage. Instead of writing the typical “So What” I decided to publish my personal reflections on our 50th anniversary which occurred last year. Believing in sacred matrimony and experiencing the blessings of it answers the so what question for me.
One of the many congratulatory cards we received on our 50th wedding anniversary celebration said we were living in rarefied air. Sadly, that is true. Google the divorce rate and it appears to be on a nice downward trend. But, compare it to the marriage rate and the picture changes. In 1867 the ratio was 0.031. By 2012 that ratio was 0.50. Divorce numbers are declining, but that is because marriage numbers are declining even more.
What makes the air that we breathe in our marriage perhaps even more rarefied is that I can honestly say after living with the same woman for 50 years I love her, respect her and admire her more than I ever have — and that includes the day of our wedding. That is not to say I didn’t love her deeply then. But, in a very real way, I didn’t know what love…
