We're from the Boston suburbs and married in 1972, 45 years.

Amen:bigbow::bigbow:

:BigApplause:

In Florida, there is a statute that when the husband dies, the surviving wife has the legal right to remain in the house but not to sell it and keep the proceeds of the sale if the title is not also in her name.

The rationale for this is so that the heirs cannot throw the wife out, leaving her homeless at the expense of the state.

If the wife is much younger, this means that the heirs may have to wait a long time before she finally leaves, leaving the house to the estate to sell.

One thing I am not sure about is what if it is a partner rather than a spouse, and the partners have lived together a long time. I suppose a trust or a life estate would need to be set up.

This means either you were widowed twice or if you were divorced twice, then they could not have been happy marriages.

This time next month we will be married 57 years. We grew up in small towns in Illinois. We married very young after graduating from high school and went straight to work. In addition, started our further education by attending evening college classes. When our son was born in 1963, my wife stayed home during the day and I went to school full-time until 2:30 pm and she worked from 3:30 to
Midnight while I took care of our baby and studied. We lived in a small Single wide mobile home and lived off our savings and my wife's salary.

Making our story short. When I finished college my wife started full-time and also finished her college degree. We bypassed instant gratification in our early years of marriage in order to further our education and it paid off in future dividends.

Finally, we learned that a marriage is not 50/50 in all aspects of life. There are some things I do well and it's best I do most of them and there are some things my wife does well and it's best for her to use her talent and skills to handle most of those. We love to do things together (such as couples golf) but we also give each other time and space to do their "thing". That makes a marriage work and endure the ups and downs that surely come in life. Our faith has sustained us through several valleys and our love for each other is stronger as the years have gone by. We are very fortunate.

:D

not trying to be funny with that avatar. LOL Some of us grew up in that era

Ditto my friend and our Congratulations

I've been married a long time and I have often wondered what keeps people together for the long haul through thick and thin.

I think you need the chemistry from the first attraction to last and I have no idea why sometimes it does and sometimes it does not. I think you need to be a one and done kind of person - I remember Paul Newman being reported as saying "Why go out for a hamburger when you have steak at home?

If you live a long life with your partner you are going to go through ups and downs, some big, some small. But when I start muttering about his shortcomings I think of how difficult I must be to live with, and he puts up with my annoyances!

Plus anyone from a long marriage has history together. I do not mean to be disrespectful to people who remarry, but what can you possibly have in common with someone you didn't grow old with?

I admit I have been lucky in meeting my one and only and when you think of how young most of us were when we initially fell in love and add to that the life experiences we have been through, it is truly amazing that so many of us do find a life partner. I am also fortunate to have come from a family where the "D" word was never considered an option. I remember calling my Mother and telling her I wanted to come home - and I remember her saying to me "you could not wait to get into bed with him, now make the best of it". Probably the best advice I ever got - thanks Mum wherever you are!

At some point it is inevitable that one of us will pass - I will probably become a hermit and he will fill the house with dogs!

????????

I once attended a wedding of a young couple and during the course of the reception, the DJ asked the guests for the longest married couple. By the process of elimination, a elderly couple clearly won with well over 60 years married.

The DJ asked the elderly gentleman, "what is your secret? The man quickly replied "APPLE PIE". Everyone applauded.

My aunt and uncle were married for 75 years!!!

His passing ended the streak. She passed away two months later.

"Till death do us part" was their motto.

BTW - not a joke.

In our case, the rocks in his head fit the holes in mine!

And that probably says it all .............. you just fit together .