Marital Bliss

Truth is I come from a family of long married couples. I am surrounded and that isn’t a bad thing. This year marks the 50th anniversary of my parent’s wedding. My siblings have all been married for at least 20 years. Both sets of my grandparents enjoyed long marriages. My maternal grandparents are both still alive and kicking and have been married somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 years!

I have been thinking about my grandparents the last few days. Their anniversary isn’t until June, but I decided to go ahead and talk about their marriage now.

My grandparents really are pretty amazing. I don’t speak from experience, but I know that marriage is hard. It’s not all the bliss and roses that fairytales paint it to be. And, yet, my grandparents just keep on keeping on. Life was hard. Grandpa has farmed all his life. Grandma worked in a factory. They had 13 children. They live in a three bedroom ranch house that at one time housed at least half of those 13 children. I whined that I had to share my room with my two sisters, but my five aunts all shared one room for their growing up years.

Today with all their children grown and living their own lives Grandma and Grandpa have settled into their golden years. They still live in the ranch house. He doesn’t do the hard farm work anymore; three cousins have taken over that part, but Grandpa still likes to get out on the farm when he feels up to it. Grandma still does stuff like canning and freezing. They keep active.

Two years ago I was in Indiana and had a chance to spend some time with them without anyone else around. I got to see the little daily interactions between the two of them. How after all these years they know each other like the back of their hands. Grandma knows just how much coffee to put in Grandpa’s cup. As they sit in the living room in the afternoon he will sometimes read things to her from the newspaper.

Nope, marriage isn’t always easy, but when it’s done right it is beautiful. It’s good to see couples who are so committed to each other and their families. I love that about my family and I am proud to come from a long line of marriage minded people.

Grandma's wedding dress being displayed by Aunt Kathy. It was played with by the kids through the years. In the box is Grandpa's wedding tie. Both the dress and tie are stored for posterity in that little box.