Dear Eddie,

There is no time to waste; no threat, just fact. Neither of us is sick; life is good. But, we have less days of life to spend than when we first began. I am grateful that our friends Alice and Lee with Better Marriages North Carolina gave us the opportunity to update our Marriage Mission Statement. As we talked, with the background murmur of other couples writing their statements, I had a gut level recognition of a change. We wrote our Statement on March 8, 1997. I am so glad we did write it down. We have reevaluated it repeatedly. We have always agreed; it has always fit, and we didn’t need a new one. This time the tone and urgency had changed.

To live our lives as darling companions, honoring our past, living zestfully in the present, and looking forward to the future in joyous confidence that our intimacy will only grow deeper

In the almost 20 years since we wrote those words, we have lived life fully, and that life has become part of the past to be honored. We have learned to more consciously enjoy the present. Now, in our legacy phase of life, as lovers and marriage partners, as parents and as grandparents, as friends, and as marriage enrichment leaders, our call is be even more congruent in our living of the best of our values.  Thank you for the important conversations. Thank you for sharing life with me. We can add more emphasis to our statement with these new words:

And may we leave others with a little less pain, a little less loneliness, and a little more joy. May those who come behind us find us faithful.

Always,

Sylvia