60 years and counting...

As I've said before.... when it comes to grandparents, I truly hit the grandparent lotttery.

My grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last week on November 12. I am very lucky to see them reach this milestone, and they are lucky to have reached it as well.

But Grandmother and Pop wouldn't tell you that. They grew up in an era when people just got married and stayed married. It's what people did.

My grandmother had four children in about five years time, and if that wasn't trial enough, she raised them all less than a football field away from her in-laws. She's the kind of housewife who could make clothes out of flower sacks, put up any type of fruit or vegetable, and work a part time job to bring in extra income to boot. My grandfather worked long and hard in soybean fields, hay meadows, and the log woods. They would escape periodically for a Razorback game or a road trip, but the road always led them back to the house on the hill... the one they literally built themselves and have lived in for 50 plus years.

I asked them what was the secret to being married for 60 years. They laughed and skirted around the issue, but they never really came out with any one piece of sage advice. I think that says alot about the two of them. Marriage is something you do everyday. There's not a golden revelation or a lofty reason why things work out. Marriage works because you work at it. Both of you. Everyday.

Of course, I had to chase them down on the cell phone to find this out and wish them a Happy Anniversary....they were off celebrating on a road trip to northern Arkansas and Branson... so maybe there is a key to being married for 60 years.... taking time to get away from everyone else!