Tommy and Mary Weir, my in-laws (for 37 years and counting), are celebrating 60 years of marriage this very day.
SIXTY! YEARS.
This is a milestone not many of us will pass. You gotta get it right if you wanna get it done.
To make it 60, you have to marry fairly young and really well and then each of you will need to live a good long while. Moreover, think about the level of commitment required. In 60 years, you will run smack into more than a few heartaches, heart breaks, hardships, defeats, discouragements, disappointments. You will trudge to the funeral home to bid painful farewells to friends and family and race to the delivery room to welcome new life into your life.
Sixty years? You gotta get it right if you wanna get it done. To face life’s battles shoulder-to-shoulder rather than toe-to-toe takes mutual respect, undying devotion, and unwaning love.
Think about this. They married on July 28, 1957!
How long ago was that? Well, my favorite vintage car, the ’57 Chevy (Bel Air), was just rolling off the assembly line and working its way to showroom floors, brand-spanking new, selling for the ridiculous price of $2,400!
How long ago was 1957?
- The average cost of a new house in the US was $12,000
- Average monthly rent was $90
- Kids were playing with new things called Slinkys and Hula Hoops
- The movies to see were “Twelve Angry Men” and “The Bridge Over the River Kwai”
- Elvis bought Graceland and Dr. Seuss released The Cat in the Hat in 1957
- The Beatles were three years from forming and seven years from their American debut
Sixty years is a long time — 21,900 days to be exact. That is 525,600 hours. Or, 31,536,000 minutes. You gotta get it right if you wanna get it done.
But when you are in love and building a home together, when you are serving Jesus with all of your might, when you are celebrating the lives of your kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids, it is only a few minutes. It’s a blur.
I thank God for Tommy and Mary Weir. I admire them. I love them. And I celebrate them today. I am glad they got it right. I am blessed they got it done.