THINKING ON PAPER

The events of this past year have been heavy on my mind recently. I miss the old me, the one who was happy most of the time.  I had a lot to be happy about.  A forty+ year marriage, three children, all grown.  Grandchildren who made life complete.  I loved the people my children chose as spouses.  We liked each other enough that we even vacationed together.  It was a good life....and then the bottom fell out, when my son's wife left him.  Since then life has been more sad than happy, as I have tried to make sense of it all.  I look at my own marriage and the struggles we had as a couple.  I think about how hard marriage is sometimes, but we always made it through, sometimes because it was the right thing to do for our children.  Now after those 40+ years I am glad we stuck it out. We did the right thing for ourselves and our children.  As we slide into old age, we take good care of each other.  We are a unit.  We both have our own faults and weaknesses, but we compliment each other, we are devoted to each other.
I wonder what is happening to our , (and I mean "our" in a general way) concept of marriage.  I read about younger people divorcing and wonder why people are so willing to take the "easy" way out, because in the long run of things it isn't easy.  I watch my son work so hard to be a good single dad, but it's difficult to take care of three children by yourself, even with shared custody. (Hey it's no easy task  to take care of three when you have a spouse!  I know that first hand).  I'm sure it's hard for his ex too.
This has been a rough year.  Maybe next year will be better for all of us.  I hope so.