Ninety years, Seventy-Three Together

This past weekend, my family celebrated something extraordinary: my grandparents’ 90th birthdays.

Ninety... Let that settle in.

Ninety years on this planet - nearly a century of life, love, chaos, change, and growth. When you really think about it, it feels almost unreal. Like something you read in a book or see in a documentary. But nope… that was my grandparents this weekend, smiling for photos while their loved ones celebrated them.

They’ve lived through everything... Decades of wars. The rise, fall, and rebirth of entire eras. Rotary phones → iPhones. Handwritten letters → instant messages. Milkmen → Amazon Prime. And of course, multiple “once-in-a-lifetime” pandemics because apparently we don’t get just one of those anymore.

But even with all that (with the world spinning and reinventing itself every decade) none of it is the most impressive part... Here’s what gets me every time:

My grandparents have been married for 73 years.

They tied the knot when my grandmother was seventeen years old. I did not stutter... Seventeen!

And listen… let me be VERY transparent: when I was 17, there is absolutely no universe, timeline, or alternate dimension in which I should have been ready to get married. I could barely decide which body spray from Bath & Body Works was “my scent,” let alone choose a life partner.

The decisions I was making at that age? Questionable. Chaotic. Not marriage-approved.

So the fact that my grandparents found each other that young, committed to each other that early, and then STAYED committed through literally seven decades of life…

It blows my mind in the best way.

Their love has evolved, softened, deepened, stretched itself across time and loss and growth and change. It’s the kind of love that quietly builds a life - one paycheck, one decision, one sacrifice, one ordinary day at a time.

And this weekend, surrounded by generations of the life they created together, I felt this wave of gratitude hit me. A little awe. A little emotion. A little perspective shift.

Because 90 years is impressive. But 73 years of intentionally choosing the same person? Sticking it out through every storm and season? Growing up and growing old together?

That’s the real miracle.

That’s the kind of love story that makes you believe in longevity again. The kind that makes you stop and wonder: What does it truly take to build something that lasts a lifetime?

Here's to long lives, long love, and the people who show us what both really means. -CC