I've just been to a big family "do". Not my family, I haven't got any, apart from one lovely daughter & her family. Her husbands parents celebrated his 80th birthday & their 55th wedding anniversary. It was a lovely occasion & they have dozens of relations from a 2 week old baby upwards. I was very touched to be included.
The eldest son made a speech, (ably assisted by some of the young grandchildren). Then his father replied, visibly emotional. In this day and age it is becoming relatively commonplace to live a long life, but not so to remain married. Both parents are reasonably fit and healthy for their age & both have all their wits about them.
Good health, longevity & a successful marriage are all such a lottery. We shouldn't take them for granted - but we do. Till something goes wrong. I do feel sad that I have been deprived of that journey into old age with someone I loved very much. I do also sometimes feel that life is very unfair. But we don't have a right to these things, it's a shame that we probably don't realise how lucky we are till it's too late. Bad stuff happens. That's life unfortunately.
I do think you have to work at relationships. You have to be tolerant & accept that we don't all deal with things in the same way. My generation do seem to have been reasonably good at that. We aren't like our parents, who stayed together out of necessity when there was nothing to salvage from a relationship. But we didn't give up at the first hurdle either. We didn't think that marriage was disposable & it was OK to get a new model, regardless of the impact on others.
It seems to me that there is a wake of wreckage trailing after broken relationships nowadays. Mostly children, adrift on a sea of turbulence & confusion. What sort of parents are they going to be in the future? Will they know what a good relationship is or how to be good parents to their children?
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