The Luckiest

My parents would have celebrated
their 69th Wedding anniversary
TODAY
June 7, 2021
I believe they still do
because that
“till death do us part”
never really separates.          .          .
Tomorrow
June 8, 2021
Erin and I are celebrating our
35th Wedding Anniversary.

On June 8, 1986
the odds makers gave us a 35% chance of surviving our second marriage
which blended two families together
and it even went down a few percentage points when we had
o       u       r
two children within the first four years of our marriage.

T     O     D     A     Y:

the odds makers are ruling in our favor.

T     H     E     Y
say
77% of couples married since 1990 reached their 10-year anniversaries according to recent census figures.  It’s a supposed slight increase from 74% in the 80’s when divorces were at an all-time high.

N      O      W

Fifty-Five percent of all married couples have been married for at least 15 years, according to the Census report, while 35 percent have celebrated their 25th anniversaries and a special

S     I     X          P     E     R     C     E     N     T
have made it to 50 years.

The Social Scientists are giving us all kinds of reasons why couples have not only leveled off the divorce train but actually turned it around:

Better Communication

More Equal Rights and Pay

Being Friends First

Compatibility

Financial Stability

Bradford Wilcox, the Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia tells us,

“Marriage is actually becoming more stable in America and divorce is becoming less common.”

He goes on to say,

“There is sort of more of a soul mate model of marriage today. . .50 years ago, this was one of the things you did when you became a young adult.  You found a boyfriend or girlfriend and if you were pretty happy you’d go ahead and get married. . .Today the bar for marriage is much higher because people want a soul mate, not just a spouse.  And a soul mate should be someone who is capable of providing you with emotional fulfillment, an intense relationship.”

What do I know after 35 years?

I know

that I can give the World, but Erin can bring me home.

I know

that we can show each other what we can never see by ourselves

I know

that she’s a beautiful blue ocean and I’m an extensive sandy shore

I know

that her Better

conquers my Worse

I know

that her Richness

obliterates my Poverty

I know

her Health

cures my Illnesses

I know

her Love is my never ending Christmas Day

I most ultimately know

I’m not

the strongest,

the bravest,

the smartest,

the brightest,

the thinnest,

the fastest,

the surest,

the most handsome

but no one can ever convince me

that  I’m  not  the

l       u       c       k      i      e      s      t

The one thing after all of these years

I absolutely-for-the-life-of-me-cannot-figure-out:

Why   she   said

Y       E       S

but I’m in heaven now and forevermore

because she

did.        .        .

Great relationships aren’t  the ones that last a lifetime,

they’re ones that last a second past eternity.

I don’t know what the percentages of

T            H            A            T

a r e.        .        .

but when you have it.           .           .

you no longer care;

It’s a Math
you can’t figure out
but  adds  up
a     n     y     w     a     y

(and we just can’t stop smiling)