A wise woman once said, “Life is short, but marriage is long.”  How true this is!  It means, as the Gospel tells us, to leave one’s parents and to cleave to a person and the two shall become one flesh.   Marriage is a lifelong commitment, for better or worse, for ever and ever. 

My parents have been married more than forty years now.  I’m sure my mom sometimes thinks that it does seem like a lifetime.  Other times, it may seem just like yesterday when they said “I do” to each other.  As one of their five children, I could see some of the virtues and qualities that took them this far.  In our family, there were good years, and there were better years.  Don’t get me wrong, it was not all smooth sailing.  Money was tight many times. I seriously remember eating galunggong practically one whole summer when we hardly had money.  Good thing galunggong was my favorite fish!  I can’t imagine the financial worries my parents had when all five of us kids were all in college and money was tight.  And then there were their differences in personalities!  Two people could not have been more different, and this obviously has led to some trying times for them. But what was common in them was their extreme love and dedication to their marriage and to us their children, their commitment to bringing us up as good, God-fearing Christians. Patience, perseverance, diplomacy and keeping one’s tongue in check, fortitude during hard times, generosity, magnanimity of heart, spirit of prayer, taking care of the little details to make our home bright and cheerful, and yes, love, lots and lots of it – these are some of the virtues I saw my parents practice all these years.  Truly the family is the seedbed of virtues. 

So do my parents have a happy marriage?  It sure look like so to me, but I also know that it came with a daily struggle to forget oneself and think of the other members of the family. 

Calling it quits was simply not in their vocabulary.  Neither should it be in any of ours.  Divorce is never the option in a marriage.

And who is the wise woman I quoted above?  You guessed it, my mom.  In their case, their long and happy marriage stands as a testament in these times, in the midst of calls for the legalization of divorce in our country.  Their marriage, and many others, are proof that marriages can and do work, that with total commitment and sacrifice, it will be the most fulfilling experience a couple can have.