Bill & Lil
 

http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.a...,206219,00.jpg

World's oldest living married couple ... William and Claudia Lillian Ritchie, shown at their home in Paris, Kentucky. William is 104 and his wife 97 and they've been married 83 years, a record recognised by by Guinness World Records.

Bill and Lil have nine grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and 18 great-great-grandchildren.

I imagine credit may be due to not smoking, drinking and Viagra!

Assuming normal demographic statistics and other factors, these people have been collecting Social Security for at least 39 and 32 years respectively.

Getting old is a bitch, until you consider the alternative...

<rant>
In a world where marriage is either just steady dating made official (in other words an excuse for a party) or a business deal, it's good to see that people who know the meaning of commitment still exist.

I hope (in vain I expect, cynical git that I am) that anyone hearing these people's story will pause and think for a moment (even be inspired) before setting out on that ever shortening road to divorce.

I don't give a shit whether your marriage succeeds or not, you're adults and you make your own choices; whether they make you miserable or not they ARE your own choices.

I do give a shit about the products of that marriage.

If you WANT to be married and have children, and are prepared for a lifetime of sacrificing what you want for what your family needs, go ahead.

If you're doing it because he or she nagged you into it (backed up by the threat of splitting up) then tell them to fuck off and wait until you do want it. If you do fall for it at least don't have children until you are sure it is what BOTH you and your partner wants.

Trying to convince a partner you think is having doubts about a marriage by having kids in the hope it will switch them round to your way of thinking is also not an option. It's desperate, cynical and grossly unfair on the partner and the resulting children.

Having seen both my parents divorced twice and two of my three sisters divorced once (I'll leave the friends out, I lost count) I know too well the pain inflicted on the real victims (children) of divorce.

Anyone ever wonder how society got so fucked up? How did dumb rap singers or hippies preaching violence and drugs get a hold of our kids? The parents.

Specifically, parents too willing to sit their kids in front of the magic lantern or boom box so they could do their own thing. Selfish assholes who like the idea of projecting a certain respectable image while pursuing their own (not their families' interests.)

The saddest part of this is the fact that being responsible for a child's upbringing, seeing the results of your own efforts, watching your child develop into an individual and guiding them along the way is the BIGGEST buzz ever (so long as you don't expect them to turn out a certain way: they never do.)

No matter how drunk/high (or whatever grills your cheese) or how many times you achieve that noble state, nothing compares to seeing your own offspring thrive and develop their own personality. It's just not instant, you need to realize this if you're contemplating marriage.

Oh, yes, it's also not fair if you only want to share in the good bits either. It's fucking hard work like any other job and passing the nappy changing duties to your partner is not a good omen for them or your child.

I suspect these two people have had an equal share of baby shit.
</rant>

PS If this is a little rambling it's been a long day. I just couldn't go to bed without commenting.

I hope those folks have as long together again.

While i generally agree with you...

Sometimes its far better for the kids if they split than stay together unhappy 'for the sake of the kids'. It doesn't work.

I've never heard a hippie preaching violence. Or even drugs. The second may be because there aren't many hippies anymore.

The key is marrying a fourteen year old girl and raising her properly.

Probably the key for these folks was the well defined gender roles of their time. Outside of immaturity, that to me seems to be one of the biggest problems among my peers. Our generation has to define our marriages. I think thats a very good thing but its a lot harder than hitting her over the head with a club and dragging her back to the cave.

Love and respect- however it looks.

You never went to any of the free festivals I went to...Love Peace and Chainsaws was the motto of the mellow fellows.

Chainsaws were usually reserved for the Police, people whose property they squatted and, when they had no use for it any longer, the property itself.

Never heard of a hippy preaching drugs? I never met one that didn't preach the use of drugs whether for their holistic healing properties, mind/conciousness/intellect expanding properties (riiiiight), or other such BS.

They call themselves new age travellers, druids, sociologists or other such arse these days and they often live in teepees or clapped out old buses and vans on other people's land shunning work, the state and society but accepting the welfare cheques it produces.

Different name, same thing. They are still with us. Lazy, self absorbed assholes with a major chip on their shoulder about the world at large.

There are still some who think sitting round doing nothing but smoking pot and talking crap makes them radical, revolutionaries or whatever who are going to change the world.

It didn't happen in the sixties, it sure as hell ain't going to happen now :rolleyes:

"sociologists" heh heh.

I would like to be a hippy but I don't really like Phish all that much.

97-83=14
 

As a friend of mine pointed out to me when I showed him this article, 97-83=14. Before you go about praising what a great marriage this is, consider what you think of marriage at 14.

People complain about the state of marriage these days, but I think it's leaps and bounds ahead of what it was back in the day. I imagine it does really suck to be a child of divorced parents, but consider that there were plenty of very unhappy marriages back in the day where the children were not necessarily any better off... and one or both of the parents themsleves often had little choice...

Or, for that matter, sometimes the children didn't even have to worry about their parents getting divorced because they were already married off themselves at the age of 14!

I like phish but I don't want Toastys short term memory. ;)