Hey Will & Kate, read this!

We had a five-month engagement.

Now, I'll point out that we had been dating for... ahem... some time before we got engaged (I don't remember the exact amount of time, but each of Mary's six older brothers seemed to have it down to the hour). But the engagement itself was very brief. We got engaged over the holidays, knew we wanted a spring wedding, and didn't want to wait a year and a half, so we dove in.

Anyhow, there's a real benefit to a brief engagement - especially from a dude's point of view - in that there's not a lot of time to oscillate over decisions. Music, flowers, menu, readings - we looked around, listened for advice, chose our favorite, and moved on. Sometimes it was unnerving. And when it was, we tried to keep in mind that, in the end, what we were hoping for wasn't a great wedding, but a great marriage.

This is a really nice first-person account of Jon & Karen, a couple who celebrated their 33rd anniversary by watching the royal wedding last year.

Jon and I were quite busy on our wedding day: We had chosen to have the reception at our apartment party house (free); pick up the food and beverages at a Big Bear store ($315 for the food, $53 for soft drinks); and get three kegs of beer from a friend who worked as a deliveryman for a distributor ($110).The beer plan hit a snag when the friend used his only call from jail to let us know he couldn’t make the wedding but that the kegs would arrive as promised.

Ida and Isidor

100 years ago the Titanic sunk. Absolute devastation. All the lives lost. Stories untold. The saddest part is that for generations to come people will think of Kate and Leo. I loved the movie. The first half anyway.

Some years ago one of my brothers bought my mother a Christmas present of tickets to “Titanic the Musical”. They always buy her 2 tickets and it's always understood that I will go with her. I was not excited for this one. Thought it was a knock off of the movie.

Well, I love to be wrong. I loved it! I mean, truly loved it. The musical focused on what was important, the lives and dreams of the passengers, no matter what class passenger. The story that knocked me back was Ida and Isidor Strauss. Ironically, it was the only true love story in the musical. They were well known since he was an owner of Macy's. In the video you will hear their story but what struck me in the musical was the song they sang entitled, “Still” towards the end of the show. The sentiment of the song was simple. “I loved you then and I love you Still”.

The way you move meStillFeels as it didWhen you first became mineWhispered the words"I will"...I loved you thenAnd I love youStill

In the hustle and bustle of jobs, kids, grocery shopping etc.... how often do we turn to our spouse and say, “I still love you.” My guess is not often enough. So next time you remind your significant other to change the light bulb in the hall already. Finish it with I STILL love you. Even though the light has been out for 2 weeks.

See what other lessons we learned from this beautiful story of love and how we applied those lessons to our modern day marriage.

Enjoy the video!!!

And if you are interested check out these links:

A Pat and Mary we'll look up to

This is not us.

It's another Pat and Mary. A previous Pat and Mary. A great Pat and Mary

A couple in their eighties who had been married for 58 years were found dead in their hot tub.Pat Marino, 85, and Mary Marino, 80, were discovered by a neighbour in their winter home after their family became worried that they had not heard from them.

The article goes on to interview one of their sons-in-law, who has this to say:

'There were no better parents to their three daughters, there were no better grandparents to the five grandchildren that they had, and there were no better in-laws to their three sons-in-law.'

And that's from a son-in-law.

So here's a couple that stayed together for 58 years, had three children, five grandkids, and went out together... in a hot tub. That's a Pat and Mary.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2049798/Elderly-couple-married-60-years-dead-hot-tub.html#ixzz1pxoroDrR