A reader compliments Matt on his long marriage to Rose and wonders why divorce rates are currently so high.
Matt responds:
Marriage, to me, is a two-way street. My wife is probably the most patient person in the universe. Some say she will be assumed directly into heaven for putting up with me all these years!
We have a give-and-take relationship. I must say that over a period of many years, I took more than I gave, but forgiveness, understanding, peace, tolerance, and hope is really a way of life; it’s not just a bunch of words.
Believe me, when I was in Florida and couldn’t lean over because my back was hurting so much, Rose came to the studio and helped. She could bend and I could stand, so together we were one person.
In our later 70s, we’re still a couple, working hard as heck, producing new things together. In fact, I decided she should sign the back of the paintings that we worked on together. It’s great to be able to work together.
As a couple, we cover each other’s backs, in many ways we live in two different worlds, but we don’t criticize each other’s world; we live together in our world together, but we have our own separate worlds, too, and we venture and love those worlds as friends, not critics.
Why are people getting divorces? I suppose because it’s so easy. It’s better to think the grass is greener somewhere else. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t.
The only one I can speak for is myself. I come from a very old school where it was really not proper to get a divorce. Now it’s common. So cultures change, people take different opinions of things.
I have known people over the years that I think would have been a lot better if they had gotten a divorce. But what I am I to say? Maybe they love each other passionately. I have no idea.
One thing I do know is that nothing is at it seems. All these imponderable questions are left to be answered when we reach the other dimension.
Lamb