Nameless Range
Well-known member
Growing up and into young adulthood, I was fortunate to have been related to and been around some of the old Lutheran farming families of German descent scattered around west-central Texas. Listening to to those folks talk about getting married at 16, working a 160 acre farm, going off to war, hunting squirrels and rabbits to stay fed when times were lean; it never really occurred to me until later, but it seemed that folks from that culture and generation, divorce simply didn't entered into their thinking.
Those were some interesting people. Tougher than hell, but some of the kindest most hospitable folks you'd ever want to know. They're all pretty much gone now, but one regret I have is I wish I'd taken the time to sit down and interview some aunt's, uncle's, and their neighbors, and write down thier stories. They came up in a different world.
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Throughout my youth and into adulthood I always looked up to the old couples and elders in the Methodist Church my parents dragged my brother and I to and still attend. It was a church populated with old midwestern Scandinavians who decided that farming sucked and moved to Montana. I’d bet in the next decade it shutters its doors due to the attrition of mortality. But I can think of almost half a dozen couples who had wedding anniversaries that exceeded 60 years in that little church. Family friends of ours from there celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary last winter and the wife died this summer. From the outside, those are incredible love stories.
It does make you wonder if there is something to it. Though it also makes me wonder if those people just accepted unhappiness at times. But then that makes me wonder how much of our happiness is an attitude we choose. It would be hard not to argue there is at least some sort of cultural aspect to divorce rates.
On one hand I feel incredibly sorry for those who are suffering with divorce, but on the other there’s a lot of guys on here who have shown that sometimes maybe it is the best thing and something much more meant-to-be is waiting down the line.