When I have a patient who has been married fifty years or more, I always ask them what the secret to a long marriage is. The answer from all of them has essentially been the same; PERSISTENCE! One little lady who had been married over sixty years, looked at me like I had an arm growing out of my forehead when I asked her that question. She wrinkled her nose at me and answered “I said I do!”
A long happy marriage requires a fair amount of work, and patience, and forgiveness from both sides. But even the happiest of marriages have seasons where the involved parties would just as soon not be so involved. Mrs. Fat Man and I have had plenty of those not so blissful periods of time. 
And multiple times in our twenty nine years we discussed throwing in the towel. We have chosen not to discuss towel throwing anymore, although we might still think about it once in a while. We have learned that if we just hang on, and try to not be mean to each other, we will slip into better times again. And I will soon get my sweet best friend back. I find myself in conversations about marriage with people quit often, and when we discuss how to stay married, I tell them this, “the secret is that you just hang on for one more day, then one more, then just one more”. Then before you know it, you have twenty five years together. And if you are anything like Mrs. Fat Man and I, you have kids and grandkids, and a memory full of good times, and not so good times, and the satisfaction of knowing that your accomplishments mean something, and have turned into something bigger than you thought they were. Because it matters to a lot of people in your life, and they are important.
So when you’re experiencing a rough patch don’t despair, you only have to hang on for one more day.
Leave a Reply