A Marriage Filled with Sunshine

The wonderful Junior Brown

On Sunday, after we had dinner, we were sitting in the living room with our bellies full, the last of the sun streaming in on us, the wonderful music of Junior Brown playing on the stereo and the two of us side by side on the couch. The cozy couch.

I turned to him and said, "We have a good life." We do. We really do.

Several months ago, Michael turned to me and said, "We have what so many people hope for, wish for but most of the time can't find. We have a good relationship." What brought that on? Yet another friend of his was in the final phase of a divorce. It was a really ugly divorce and I think he was just thrilled not to have had to go through that hell.

Also, he was saying a while ago that none of his friends have a relationship similar to ours. Ricky and Fran, though almost a decade older than us, are the only ones who have a similar relationship. Rather sad. So many divorces surrounding us lately.

Next year, we will be celebrating 40-years of marriage. We are still best friends. We still laugh a lot.

I had a brilliant dad. He once explained to me that one day the three of us will grow up and move away. He said that it is so important to make sure that he and mom still knew and liked each other after we were gone.

He told the following to me when I was around 13-years old: In a marriage, the two of you together are like the sun. Your children, family, work, friends are like the planets circling the sun. If the sun is together and functioning properly, the planets circle perfectly and perform their function. If the sun is in conflict, the planets wobble and can’t stay on their course. Nothing is working well.

In other words, if you make sure the relationship between you is good, everything else falls into place.

From the very beginning of our marriage, I remembered this. Through all the ups and downs of life, we are still here. Together. Best friends.

We have a good life. No illness can change that.