64 Years of Marriage
My Grandma and Grandpa McFarland after 64 years of marriage.
You know the old saying “Grow old with me, the best is yet to be”? Well, I am lucky enough to have seen this saying in action. This year, June 20th to be precise, will mark the 64th wedding anniversary for my Grandma and Grandpa McFarland. It is hard to believe they have been married that long because to me it sounds like a lifetime. Yet, I couldn’t possibly imagine either of them being with anyone else.
The happy newlyweds on their wedding back in 1954.
Both of them are in their mid-eighties, and they have seen so much history. The technological advances alone are extremely significant and rare to witness in any lifetime let alone the length of a single marriage. They both grew up in poor families who couldn’t even afford to own radios, and now I can’t seem function without my phone. Grandma and grandpa’s whole marriage has been spent while Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II has reigned, and now she is the longest reigning monarch in British Royal history!
Okay, so my grandparents may not receive any awards for the most fights resolved or longest reigning marriage, but I have been watching them very closely my whole life looking for the key to a happy and successful marriage. This all matters to me because someday, hopefully, I will meet a man who I will want to grown old with. Yes, I am young. Yes, I have goals to obtain before marriage. But in my humble opinion, it is so important to learn everything you can from those around you. That is why seeing my grandparents work and grow together has been so influential on me.
They resolve conflict with compromise, and they have a very similar goals when approaching situations. My Grandma McFarland grew up in a family of eight children! My Grandpa McFarland, on the other hand, only had one sister. Despite the differing number of siblings, they both were and are very family orientated. This was a love match, they met at the gas station my grandpa happen to work at the time and, get this, my grandma is the one who asked him out!
My grandparents were living a very modern, for the 1950s, marriage. One that not many people at the time were interested in having. But my grandparents were more than prepared to look the future in the eye and move with the times.
Another picture from their wedding day.
Soon after my grandparents were married, Grandpa McFarland was drafted into the United States Army. This meant my Grandma McFarland was left being a newly married woman on her own. She was a regular “Rosie the Riveter”, she worked a job and provided for both herself and my grandpa while he was away. What my grandma didn’t know was how ahead of her time she was! If it weren’t for hardworking women like her, women might not have all of the same opportunities we are afforded today.
Another modern move in their marriage was to wait and have a children. After grandpa got out of the service, they wanted to finally enjoy their time together. This led to my Mother being born in the 1960s.
That same forward thinking gene must have passed onto my Mother because she knew how important it would be for her future to receive a college degree. My Mom was the first generation in her family to attend and graduate college, and my grandparents supported her all the way. Now, because of the examples set by the generations before me, I am able to attend college and have a career in any kind of job I am willing to work hard towards.
I am thankful for all of the decisions my grandparents and parents have made because it has led to this moment. Life wouldn’t be quite the same if anything had or hadn’t of happened along the way. It is good to know I can count on the generations before me in many ways, one of them being how they have set such a great example of what a solid marriage should look like.
Happy 64th Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa!
Much Love,
Sarah
