Twilight Friendship

I spent some time with an old couple recently - both in their 80s. Theirs has been a long marriage with a fair share of tumult - some of their own making and others brought on them from the outside.  There have been deaths and complicated diseases along the way that touched them and those they love. Looking back there were good years and decades along with the rougher patches. In the twilight of their lives, when they look back, they are able to see the good more brightly than the bad.

They allow themselves to glamorize and romanticize the past as a way to deal the many difficulties of old age. It was a wonderful thing to observe and learn. But the most fascinating thing for me was to see the bond between them - one of deep friendship and being attuned to each others.What they have felt solid and immutable - love may have come and gone out of their marriage in cycles but what remains sustains them through every adversity. I learned that they both had parents who had marriages that looked much like their own. 

So many lessons to learn from these two about growing old gracefully with a best friend.