ATLANTA — Who knows the secret to love better than those who have made it last? We asked couples at King's Bridge Retirement Community in Atlanta to give us their best advice on love.
This is what they said:
"Commitment to the Lord and to each other," Freddie said.
"And it has worked. June 30th, we will have been married 69 years," Jon added.
"Well, 69 years ago today, we had the first date I asked Gayle for and we’ve been married 63 years. It will be 64 in four months," Carl said. "During that time our love has grown more and more. As I was trying to decide early on about marriage, I wanted a girl I could live on a deserted island with without any external things and we could just enjoy each other. We have done that for the entire married life and even now. Even now during this deserted island of COVID-19, our love has grown even stronger than it ever has."
"I think the characteristics of love change over time. There’s young love that is so fresh and happy and carefree and no worries. Then as you mature over 60 plus years, you become more understanding and have more empathy for each other and it is just as good. It just changes the way you relate to each other," Gayle said.
"I think you need to be friends. You need to really like each other as well as love each other, and sometimes those two things aren’t always the same," Susan said. "You have to have the ability to compromise. You can’t always get your way fully."
"I feel that after 39 years of enjoying each other and supporting each other and finding joy in being together each day is what love is all about," Norman said.
"And you need to be able to laugh a lot!" Susan added.
"I think it’s very important that you take your time and you make sure you have the same value systems if you intend to make a permanent commitment," Jackye said.
"My best love advice has several hands to it. Number one, I think you should know the person. Even when you’re dating, you want to keep learning more things about them and experience a lot of different things. Dining out, dining in, going to the movies. Just all kinds of things like that will help you know the person better," Carol said.
"Certainly you want them to meet their family and you would like to meet theirs. Spend some time with each of the families so that you know you like them and you like their families because families are very important."