This month, former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. The Atlanta Journal Constitution marked the occasion.
Jimmy Carter won the presidency and a Nobel Peace Prize.
But the best thing ever to happen to him, he says, occurred on July 7, 1946, when he exchanged wedding vows with Rosalynn Smith at a tiny Methodist church in Plains.
... [Seventy-five years] is a mark so rare that the U.S. Census Bureau doesn’t keep statistics on how many couples make it that far. But only 6% of married couples make it to even 50 years.
So how has all of that evolved over the 75 years?
Mrs. Carter: We still love each other.
President Carter: I think it has increased.
How has it increased?
President Carter: We have grown closer to each other. We’ve learned from each other. And we have learned to accommodate each other’s idiosyncrasies. And we’ve learned how to give each other plenty of space. We can each do our own thing and the other one absent.
Mrs. Carter: And we also look for things to do together.
Mr. Carter, 98, is in home hospice care. Mrs. Carter, 95, is dealing with dementia.
He wasn't a great president (is anyone?), but the couple have demonstrated so much about how to be great human beings.
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