Top Tips for a Lasting Marriage from Those Who Know.

Want to learn some secrets to a lasting marriage from a couple who know what they are talking about? Then read on. Despite experiencing good and bad times, and life’s ups and downs, Bill and Muriel McGee this week celebrated 60 years of married life. This achievement earned them congratulatory cards from Queen Elizabeth 2nd and the Governor General of Australia, as well as a bouquet of flowers from our local politician Jo Gash. So to what do Bill and Muriel attribute their long and lasting marriage? 1. ‘You have to share.’ 2. ‘It’s all about give and take.’ 3. … Continue reading

Love and Marriage That Lasts

Can you imagine being married to the same person for 80 years? As you know, I always love finding stories of long marriages that have stood the test of time. So this week I couldn’t resist sharing the story of two marriages that have stood the test of time. Interestingly both marriages are from the same family. Is there a correlation between those two facts? I’d like to think that one has impacted on the other. The first is Lilla and Carmelo Scarcella who met when Lilla was 15. Despite opposition from parents and an enforced wait because of compulsory … Continue reading

Protecting Your Marriage

Most people don’t think twice about insuring their home or car or things that are valuable. They don’t think twice about installing security measures like screens and alarms. But what about protecting your marriage? What can you and I do to protect our marriages? Here are some suggestions. And no, these aren’t all mine. Many came from families.com members. Respect and being careful about the way we talk to our spouse. It was interesting to see how many of you mentioned this as essential. No marriage is great absolutely great all the time. Your spouse isn’t perfect and neither are … Continue reading

Helping Young Marrieds

If you’ve been married a few years or a long while, how prepared are you to encourage and help those just starting out on the marriage path? Recently a couple I know celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary. Someone commented that in this day and age where many marriages never last anywhere near that long, this couple is an encouragement to others. I remember too when I said once how long Mick and I had been married the person looked at me in stunned amazement. She then congratulated me on our long marriage. Funnily enough it doesn’t seem that long at … Continue reading

The Pros and Cons of Getting Married Later

Yesterday we looked at the problems that are encountered with young marriages. Today we will look at older marriages. There can be many pluses in getting married later but are there any pitfalls in later marriages? Advantages The couple getting married has had time to establish their careers first or to travel. Presumably if they have been working longer and moving up in their careers, this will also mean they will have more of a bank balance behind them, though this is not always the case. Some people earn a good income but spend it as fast as they earn … Continue reading

Making Assumptions

Making assumptions about what your spouse believes or thinks about things can spell trouble. I read a story recently sent us by a friend about a situation in Papua New Guinea. The men and women were split into two separate groups. Each group was asked what they considered to be the three most important issues to support children at school. Then each group was asked what they thought the other group would say. The men said ‘double classrooms, libraries and teacher houses.’ When asked what the women would say, they assumed the women would say exactly the same as what … Continue reading