9/ This thread was composed using blueskythreads.xyz

8/ At the time, and even since, I haven’t seen many older couples whose lives reflect that kind of connection—a valuation of, a love for, the whole person.

This anniversary, I’m deeply grateful that I have exactly that kind of relationship with my sweetie, Merna Eisenbraun.

7/ I don’t remember who they were, but that action had a large effect on me: I thought, “I hope to have a relationship such as that when I’m married and old—a relationship that retains significant affection and that continues to value touch."

6/ They were probably in their 60s—quite old from the standpoint of someone who was maybe not yet 10 years old; they were walking one evening toward a lake and onto a small dock, holding hands.6

5/ Sometime in my early years—and I think it was in the U.P. of Michigan, where we lived at the time—a missionary couple were visiting the small church that my father pastored.

4/ We’ve changed; we’ve grown. Sometimes, the growth has not been at the same speed, Merna growing faster than I was or vice versa. But we have grown, and for that I am very grateful.

3/ Thankfully, we are—and, more importantly, we are <not>—the same people who said all those things to each other on June 8,1969.

2/ 56 years ago, Merna and I chose to marry (active voice) each other, committing to spend, so far as we could tell, the remainder of our lives together. Of course, we could not know then just what that would mean; no one can, because no one can see the future.