“You can’t go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ~ C.S. Lewis

When you are young and in love, you think you know what to expect in marriage. Even with pre-marital counseling, young couples can often run into obstacles that seem insurmountable. Career decisions, aging parents, financial woes, the realities of home ownership, parenting, college. The problem is: even in their 20’s, while they are adults, they are still learning who they are as a person, learning how they adapt to and handle stress.

Marrying after 57 years has been phenomenal. We’ve both survived past relationships consisting of emotional and financial abuse. Our children have managed to grow up and become productive members of society. There are many benefits:

• We each have a strong sense of self.
• We both know what we are willing to accept.
• We are comfortable setting boundaries.
• We immensely enjoy being in each other’s company.
• We support each other’s dream and desires.
• We have a shared vision for our future.

The best part of all is that neither of us was actively looking for a marriage partner. He had been recently widowed while I had re-located for work and my youngest child living with me had (finally) struck out on her own. It was no longer “cool” for her to hang out with mom. We were looking for companionship, friendship, camaraderie – someone with whom we could converse and debate or occasionally share a meal. After meeting, we spent several weeks trying to convince ourselves (without the others knowledge) – “I am not in love. This is coincidence. Loneliness. . .but not love.”

We were wrong. So very wrong.

Every day I thank God that my husband came into my life. We tell each other daily how much we love each other and good naturedly banter about who is the luckiest. (Spoiler – it’s ME!) In the evening, rather than falling asleep quickly, we talk and laugh, giggling like children in our pre-sleep giddiness. Many times we are laughing at his 88 year-old Daddy’s antics – talking to the dogs, thinking the dogs need to go outside in the early morning hours because he’s up using the restroom, arguing loudly with his phone, repeatedly asking callers “Are you AI? Are you AI!?!?!” There’s such a relaxed ease to the days and nights and waking up is exciting as we wonder what will happen each day.

5/5 recommend marrying later in life, it’s worth it.