My husband and I were recently invited to help celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary. I mean 50 years! This couple has spent more time together than I have been on planet earth. The invite may have stated ‘your presence is your gift’ but in my opinion, that wasn't going to cut it.
This was quite the accomplishment and I didn't feel right showing up empty-handed. So I Googled the words fifty, years, anniversary and gift. Sometimes Google comes up with quite a lot of options to sort through, but this time, every search engine came to the same conclusion. When a couple celebrates their 50th wedding anniversary, you buy them GOLD. There is not a modern day substitution. The only thing that fits the bill is GOLD. Makes sense to me. Fifty years together definitely deserves GOLD of some sort (perhaps in the form of a medal).
So, we arrived for the evening with my basket full of GOLD wrapped goodies (think champagne and Ferrero Rocher chocolates). The perfect go-to gift. Even if he doesn't like it, she will, and let's face it, after a few years of marriage myself I have learned that a happy wife is a happy life.
The evening was full of great food, drinks, laughs and, best of all, marriage advice. As the evening proceeded, it was brought to our attention that another couple there had celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary. After doing the math, I realized we were among a set of couples who had spent over 100 years together, happily married. As the evening settled down, I asked the couples to give some advice/quotes to couples to keep their marriage working.
The answers were both entertaining and surprising!
The husband said - “Yes, Dear. The two magic words in any marriage.”
The wife said - “Darn right, and don't forget it.”
The husband said - “Men to the left.”
The wife said - “Because women are always right.”
The wife said - “I hate arguing.”
The husband said - “But the fun is in making up.”
The husband said - “Drop her off at the doors, whether it be her work, Costco, Walmart or the mall, be a gentleman and give her door to door service.”
The wife said - “Don't forget to leave your credit card.”
The wife said - “When I talk to him, he can't hear me anyways.”
The husband said - “Good, good.”
The husband said - “Always kiss her goodnight.”
The wife said - “And don't forget the morning.”
There were many more priceless quotes, hearing these two couples describe their experiences that summed a total of over 100 years of marriage. My favorite wasn't a celebrity or TV quote, but was from a couple who had actually lived through 50 years of marriage and were still smiling ….
“The grass isn't greener on the other side, it’s greener where you water it!”
