How many years have you been married?

This topic was inspired by Arkansas Stickerdude's reply to my teaser in another forum (see below). Please post how long you have been married and to what most important thing you attribute the longevity of your relationship.

Jo (Ma Bell) and I have been married 34 years and now we are both retired and we genuinely enjoy each other's company. As our marriage and family raising progressed, different things have kept us together at different times through the years. I think that during these later years, most important has been that our love has continued to grow with each passing day, week, month and year.

Now, here's what started this:

[quote=arkansas_stickerdude][quote="Geezer_Veazey":10hhusfl]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by "arkansas_stickerdude":10hhusfl

I would have rather picked up trash.

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Be nice, stickerdude!

On second thought, don't just be nice - Change your way of thinking! Think of everything your wife means to you and give your inlaws credit for giving you such a helpmate.[/quote:10hhusfl]

The good thing is she does not like going up there either her sisters are black sheep. I got the only good one out of 3. By the way I do LOVE my wife on July 1st we will have been married 10 YEARS, I hear after the first 10 its all down hill. There are many more years to come she is 28 and I'm only 32 so we hope to have a LOOOOOOOONG life together. hahahahahahahahahahaha.[/quote:10hhusfl]

So now, lets hear your thoughts.

Geezer

Nonni and I recently celebrated being married for 29 years.

Why is because she is the absolutely the most perfect woman in the world FOR ME. It is the second marriage for both of us. Having had a failed marriage helped me to appreciate a great woman when we got together.

We both have a very optimistic, happy outlook on life.

We developed the ability to communicate with each other.

We both understand that it works best for us to pick our battles. Not every issue is important enough to have it the way "I" want it.

She is a very patient person.

Ellen and I will be married 19 years at the end of May.

Our Secret? I don't know. We just seem to be perfect for each other. Her weakness is my strength and vice versa. We are each other's best friends and we have a lot of fun together.

In a few hours we will be leaving for two days of R&R in downtown Little Rock sans the kids. We try to get away once or twice a year which helps keeps us close. We might even have time for a cache or two :wink:

Melody and I have been married for 6 years, but we've been together for 11 years. She is a supportive, caring, encouraging, longsuffering, and optimistic person. In other words, she fills in the gaps that I sometimes can't fill....

My hope is that I will never fail to recognize these traits in her, and that I will always be working to be the husband and father that I should be. I'm so blessed (and thankful) to have Melody.

To what do we attribute the longevity of our relationship? I'd say that the One that brought us together and to Whom we made our vows is the same One that keeps us together every day. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know that if it were left entirely up to me, I'd find a way to mess it up... :)

Mrs Geoark and I have been married for 34 years when often asked how long we have you been happily married I sometimes reply "three years not bad out of 34" truth is it has been a pleasure each and every day I met her on her fathers birthday in 1970 and would have taken her to Oklahoma and married her that night but I am sure we would have had a funeral that week also (her mother would have striped a gear). We waited for 6 months then done the dead. She is my best friend and confidant has it been all easy no but so what I still and will love her for the rest of my days. A new chapter is opening for us within the next month and that is the world of Grand Parents and we cannot be more excited.

We were married 38 years ago last September - and still living happily ever after. We each feel very much alone if we're not together. It truly takes both of us to make a whole.

Friendship, love and respect are 3 things that we attribute our longevity to. Other essentials are trust and humor. Not all occur at the same time - we found out long ago that you must also be patient for all of those take time to grow.

Through the years we've been through the stages of friends, lovers, newlyweds, parents and grandparents. Now that some of our responsibilites of kids are gone, we are re-discovering each other as friends and explorers. Geocaching has actually benefited us in that it has given us an excuse to be youthful again and be more spontaneous with a different kind of enthusiasm in our lives. And that's another important part of staying happily married - don't get stagnated! Find something new and interesting to both of you - and then enjoy it to the fullest together!

If we make it until July 3 we will be married 41 years. Through the years we have had our share of differences but our love for each other has always grown stronger as the years passed by. I told her the other day no matter how long we have together on this earth it will not be long enough. We found out not long after we were married we could not have children. I think that drew us closer to each other instead of apart.
Since we had no children we learned to do things together. In the 70's we had motor cross trail bikes, we had lots of fun together. Then we got a ski boat and learned to water ski. I even learned to ski Barefooted. Then we deer hunted together. I think you get the picture, we did things together. and we still do.

I know some of you are wondering how Abby fits in this story. Abby is Bonnie's niece's adopted daughter. Abby has called us MiMi and Pee Paw since she started talking. She knows we are not her Grand-Parents but she loves us just like we were. We love her the same way. I feel we are very blessed, We had no children but, now we have a beautiful Granddaughter.

I read back over what I wrote and I'm sorry for it being so long. I wrote a dog gone book.
Jerry