Happy Thoughts About Long-Term Marriages

 

Allow me to declare that any and all anniversaries should be celebrated! Any time a married couple begins another year together it’s fantastic. Long-term marriages are an important milestone and I wouldn’t be me unless I said we also need to find adventure in life too!

Aren’t we all looking for hope? Hope for a great life for our families, for ourselves and for our friends. On social media I see where “likes” of happy things way outnumber the negative. I actually just scroll past the negative. You and I both know that negativity is floating about, I just don’t need to focus on it, but that’s just me.

I wrote a post last year celebrating our 30^th wedding anniversary. It was published on the Huffington Post, as well as several other publications. Yay! As of today, I estimate that over 5,000 people have read it. I have received lots of great comments and even now I receive notifications that even a year later, everyday someone new is reading it.

Why is that? People are reading it not because I offered any grand secret or new and profound answer, but people are looking for reasons to celebrate. A theme of hope resonates with most everyone.

Long-term, successful marriages require effort, lots of it. Making an earnest attempt to make something positive happen should be a big priority. We need to be proactive, change it up, try not to do the same old thing, day after day. This effort should be unselfish and thoughtful. We all need to hone our skills as a spouse with each passing day and year.

Who thinks it is easy to be married? Who thinks that successful relationships don’t require care, effort and patience, of course they do. For the same reasons that our children don’t raise themselves, it takes nurturing, and focus to raise a child successfully and so does marriage.

 

 

A happy, successful family is what happens when you pay attention, act unselfishly, and listen. Listening is a lost art that more people should be practicing.

What is life without hope? Hope is optimistic, inspiring and helps us feel safe. Without hope for the future of marriage and family, what are we here for?

As I get older life makes so much more sense. I have older friends that used to say that when I turn 50 my perception of the world would change. I didn’t see it then, but I certainly see it now. I do wish that I had worried much less in my younger days. So much of what I worried about never happened or didn’t matter. If we could have a crystal ball it would be easy, but we need to rely on ourselves, not magic. Turn our thoughts toward what truly matters. My husband matters, my kids matter, my family and friends matter.

We live in a digital age where dreams are big and expectations are high. Ultimately, our hope for a strong marriage and family should keep us motivated to improve our relationships, care more, criticize less.

I still hold on to the idea that these important characteristics like hope, effort, unselfishness and focus make the difference in a strong marriage. Don’t worry about the small stuff. Don’t worry about whether your SUV has the same bells and whistles as your neighbor, it doesn’t matter. People matter.

I hope to reach the next generation to give them hope for a successful family. It is not easy, but it really isn’t that difficult either. The world has turned really scary and negative, even disheartening. I don’t know what we can do for the whole world, but if we just focus on our own little families, offer the next generation some sage advice on marriage and family, maybe we all can make a difference one marriage, one family at a time.

I sure hope so.

Craig and I are surrounded by successful long term marriages. Our friends are celebrating big anniversaries like, 35 years, 32 years, 25 years, 17 years, even 10 years is fantastic!

It is a “magic 31” years for Craig and I this year. We need to celebrate!

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