...When I'm Sixty-Four.

I watched something today that was pleasant to see.

While sitting and eating a quick lunch at a McDonald's in Monterey, Ca. I watched an older couple enter the restaurant.

They went to the counter and placed their order, with a little difficulty due to an impatient cashier. After they got their food, they wandered around until they found a seat they liked. He went around and pushed her chair in for her, and then sat down.

They ordered a Chicken sandwich and a salad... While I am sure that this is of little importance to you, the reader, it was cute because of the way they ate it. He cut the sandwich in half, and divided the salad. They then sat and ate their lunch.

While, again, this entire observation my be a bit mundane or boring to most of you, it leaves me with a feeling of happiness. I enjoy seeing what appears to be a good relationship, especially today, when there seems to be a lack of romance in life and a rise in what are commonly being referred to a disposable relationships. This is not to say that all modern relationships are doomed to failure, but you will notice that the statistics are in favor of the fact that people are just not staying together as long as they once did.

Which brings me back to our friends in the McDonald's. How is their relationship different than your relationship with YOUR significant other? Maybe nothing, maybe a lot. I think that the values we are brought up with have a lot to do with this, in addition to the environment that we are raised in. Personally, I was brought up in a broken marriage... For reasons I was too young to understand, my mother and father separated when I was six years old... My wife had a similar situation... So obviously we both went into our relationship with worries. But when this couple were younger, marriage was taken much more seriously than it is today, at least more importantly that some take it. When people married then, I think they took the whole idea of "till death to us part" seriously. Nowadays people are using creative ways getting around that commitment, by saying things like "As long as our love shall last" and "Until our love doth fade."

If you were to ask me, the two later "vows", are nothing of the sort, and are actually a cop out. You are essentially giving yourself an "out". You are saying, that if you suddenly decide that you no longer love your spouse, you simple use that as an excuse to bail out. You are putting a "chicken-shit" clause in the marriage. You are preparing your marriage for disaster, by not COMMITTING to the relationship.

My wife and I have a great marriage. It is not perfect, we have had our fights, and some of them were doozies. I have never struck her, and I never will. But the fact is that we make it work, and I hope that we will be sitting in a McDonald's sharing a sandwich and salad forty years from now.

"...Will you still need me? Will you still feed me? When I'm Sixty-four."

I did not get their names, but here is their picture, in the upper right corner.