Wow, you’ve been married for twenty five years! At the party, more than one person is going to ask you how you’ve done it. We bet you’ll say something like this:
“Marriage is a commitment between two people who love each other. You must never forget that when you took your vows, you took them seriously. There is way too much divorce and separation in the world today, and promises and commitments are as iron clad as they should be, it’s very sad. We’ve stayed together through everything from public wars to private battles, even when things looked very bad, we made a promise to stick it out, knowing that two years from now everything would be different. We’ve seen sickness and health; we’ve seen deaths, weddings, and births in our family. We have made it a point to stay connected with family who had moved away, and we are involved in our community and church.”
Or you might say something like this-
“Most of it has been easy. I feel the same about my (wife/husband) as I did the day we married, and wouldn’t change a thing. We listen when each other is speaking. We have kept our sense of humor through thick and thin, and have worked together to raise our children the way we would want them to treat other people. We have had our share of arguments, but never once did we threaten to leave each other, that, I believe, is one of the worst things you can do in a marriage, is start to threaten. It wears the marriage down, like bringing up everything they ever did to hurt you during an argument. When the argument is over, it’s over. Let everything about it go and move on.”
This is always a good answer-
“I don’t know. She tells me what to do and I just do it!”
It is a wonderful thing to make it to the silver anniversary, by now you’ve come to an understanding about how to talk and listen to each other, know each other’s likes and dislikes and have probably done an excellent job of raising a family. You can help newlyweds with advice on how to get through the first years when the stress seems at its greatest, or counsel the couple who has been married for five years and up who have slid into complacency. They need the validation that you can give them about continuing their commitment through thick and thin, perhaps there is a young couples group at your church who would benefit from your experience, this is a wonderful opportunity to give back -just like the couples who were there for you when your marriage was new or at a turning point.
This is a wonderful time to redo your vows, and often the silver anniversary is marked with just this kind of celebration. So celebrate, gather your friends and family and have a great time, and here’s to another twenty five years to the two of you!