The long marriage

My wife and I have now been married for 34 years. It is a very long time, about the life average of the Human Being three hundred years ago. Nowadays people in Sweden (and in many other countries) seem not to believe in lifelong marriages. Most marriages are broken after five to ten years. The grass looks even more nice on the other side of the fence. Why not taste that one? And then the next one – why not? The question could very well be raised: what are the basic forces that make people stick to each other year after year after year – until death forces us to part? Love is a mixture of passion, good illusions, sexual desire, daily companionship. daily work at home – and fear. Do not underestimate the fear. Fear is always a strong factor in our life. We can not get rid of it – if we are openminded and not too rigid or too much denying what life is about. I do not want to be left alone. I fear the loneliness. I am scared of having no one to talk to – about everything I see and everything I sense, and taste, and feel, and read about. I just have to have a partner, a close, warm, giving and responding partner. Like my wife.