Nobody will ever suggest that relationships are easy. However, like so many things in life, putting in the hard work pays off. You get to have things like affection and support in your life, and a partner to share all the highlights with and to help lift you out of the lows.
Even to make a relationship work for a few years is a decent accomplishment. To make one work for more than eight decades ? That’s downright special.
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Getting married is the easy part. The aftermath, as so many people can tell you, is the hard part.
You may have heard that divorce rates in the U.S. are dropping — only about 39% of marriages in America end in divorce, down from 50% in the ’80s. But it looks like that’s mostly because people are waiting longer to marry, and so they tend to be more mature and financially secure when they get hitched.
Still, marriages take work. Happily ever after doesn’t happen by itself.
Most marriages that end, end within the first decade.
Data in both the U.S. and the U.K. shows that young couples are increasingly making it through those first tenuous years together, however, with 27% more marriages surviving the first decade in the U.K. than couples who tied the knot in the ’80s.
You can pretty much throw statistics out the window when you’re talking about D.W. and Willie Williams, however.
They’ve beaten every odd out there and then some. D.W. and Willie, recently celebrated their birthdays, which are seven days apart, with D.W. turning 103 and Willie 100.
They also celebrated their wedding anniversary, clocking in at an astounding 82 years. That means they would have been 21 and 18 when they took the plunge back in 1937.
The history they’ve seen in their lives together, and that their marriage has survived, is astounding.
They were together during the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights era, Vietnam, and so, so much more.
They say they can remember when cab rides cost 10 cents. Imagine being able to pay for something with a dime!
So, what’s their secret to a successful, long-lasting marriage?
They told WSOC that they don’t really have one. “I don’t have no secret for that, just be nice to each other,” Willie said. Which seems like sound advice for a relationship!
However, their granddaughter thinks she’s cracked their code.
BJ Williams-Greene said that her grandparents are her inspiration, and she can see why their marriage has lasted.
“It’s communication and loving each other and working together,” she said. “They are each other’s best friend.”
Still, D.W. and Willie aren’t sure what they would do with 100 more years together.
“I don’t know, sit around the house,” Willie said.
Even so, they’re a force to be reckoned with and excellent role models and inspiration for the rest of us as well as their family.
h/t WSOC
