The Secret to a Long & Happy Marriage…oh And Happy New Years

With a 54% divorce rate in America today I have to admit I have wondered, what is the secret to a long and happy marriage.  I have spent the better part of 33 years watching people be married.  Aunts, uncles, friends, parents, grandparents, they are all just people falling in love and trying to make it work.  I think the sanctity of marriage is lost, the true romance gone, the understanding that committing your life to another persons life is one of the most important decisions you will ever make.  I have been married twice.  The hunky hubby I am married to now, is my second marriage.  I must admit, the first time around seems like a dream, someone else’s life, so long ago.  It was a brief encounter, and not a happy one.  However I learned some very valuable lessons.  Today I think I am a better wife to my husband for what I went through in my past.  I can only thank God for that.

So I pondered the other day sitting at my grandparents kitchen table.  What is their secret?  What has kept them together for over 60 years.  Through trials and tribulations.  Joys and sorrows.  Thick and thin.  They’ve stayed.  They keep on keeping on.  I looked at them.  The moment below I captured in a photo and it occurred to me… it could be the Southern Sweet Tea.  

Is it possible that this Southern Sweet Tea is a mystical love potion?  Possibly the tea is so full of flavor like life and full of sweet sugar, like my Grandma, yet it has a strong taste, strong like my Grandpa.  Maybe this tea is the secret to a long and happy marriage. 

Now some 60+ years later they still sit at their kitchen counter, 4 children, 7 grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren, a few homes, too many vehicles to have counted, changes in life, changes in economy and in the world and still one thing remains the same.  Every single meal is accompanied by this Southern Sweet Tea.  It dawned on me that I have never witnessed either of these people eat lunch or dinner without having a glass brimming with ice with warm tea poured over it.  The tea gently melts some of the ice diluting it just a bit.  

There is magic in this tea.  There must be.  Watching these two brilliant, beautiful people be married, happily, for over 60 years has been one of the most delightful things I’ve ever witnessed.  It’s like watching spring arrive.  There is nothing bad about it.  Just love. 

I considered writing you a tutorial or filming a video on how to make this tea.  Then I thought to myself, I am not the magician behind this potion.  Only two people in all the world would be equipped at teaching you how to make the Southern Sweet Tea that has friends and family coming back to their home for more.  Meal after meal.  The pitcher of tea sits on the counter day in and day out and is never empty.  You can go to Gramma and Grampa’s any day for a glass full of love.  Here they will share their love with you.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year and all the joy, love and prosperity the new year has to offer.  Have a blessed day.