The Marriage Secret

I don't read many comics but I do enjoy Pickles. I find it very funny. I don't know if it is at all relevent because I haven't reached that stage in life, yet. Maybe I like it because I love to watch the older couples that live in my ward and live in my little world. I've learned a lot about marriage from them. (I think that the Pickles family could learn a thing or two from these couples, also.) One Sunday, a few years ago, I was sitting in Relief Society next to a wonderful older lady. She told me that they were celebrating their anniversary that week. We figured out that our anniversaries were on the same day, just 55 years apart. We talked about how successful her marriage was and what she thought the secret was. She said, "We have always taken care of each other. " She died a few months later. Now her husband sits quietly alone, waiting for the day that he will be able to take care of her again.

My neighbors have been married for eons. I'm not sure how old they are but they are both around 90. One day, during a lesson on marriage, they said the secret to their marriage was doing the dishes together each night and taking care of one another. In November, the husband fell and broke his hip. He spent nearly two months in a rehabiliation center. His wife stayed with him, sleeping in a reclining chair every night. I asked her why she didn't come home. She said, "I've got to take care of him." He just smiled. Well, it has been another month and a half and he is still unable to get around well on his own. When I visit he tells me the things she does for him and talks about how good she is at "taking care of me."

Well, yesterday, the wife fell outside their home and broke her arm. This is the arm that helps him up from bed, to the walker, to the wheelchair, and to the recliner he sits in. When I visited today I asked, "How will you help him if you have a bum arm?" She smiled as he said, "Well, I guess I finally get to take care of her." Then they both giggled.