I used to know an elderly gentleman who always introduced his wife as "my lovely bride," even after 50 years. I know a couple in their middle age who are obviously in love, but not huggy-kissy kind of demonstration. The way they look at each other when they're talking, the way they smile at each other. It's so obvious. I see a commercial on TV sometimes that makes me happy-sad. There's an elderly couple walking along, and she reaches over to take his hand, and they smile at each other. Following is a young couple who pass them, one on each side of the elderly couple. The young woman looks back and sees the elderly couple holding hands as they're walking along, and she reaches for her husband's hand. What the commercial is all about, I haven't a clue.
It's easy for me to understand how mothers love their children--no matter what. When you've nurtured that life within you for nine months, there's a bond that stretches and stretches for as far as it needs to. I think a human mother is like a bear mother. DON'T get between me and my child.
But I ask again. What is the glue? Why are some people so successfully married and others make a hash of it? With the divorce rate at or near 50%, I wonder what happened from the time I was a child until I'm an old lady. In my day, divorce was a dirty word. Decent families just didn't do it. You stuck together, kept the vows you made "in sickness in health..." the good with the bad.
Oh, I recognize that there are some situations that just simply aren't to be borne: abuse, infidelity (but even that can be forgiven most of the time), abandonment. The 50% who didn't make it--why? When the newness of romance wore off, did the love wear off too? Did they make a bad choice to start with? Did they forget about compromise? What happened?
No glue in the bottle?