You Know It’s True Love When He Has His Knee Replaced

Young people always look at cute old couples like Paul and me, married for over four decades, friends for more than five. “How do you know when you’re really in love?” they ask, wide-eyed with admiration. “How can you tell that this is the person who was destined to be your one and only?”

And the truth is, I have no idea. I don’t know how you can tell in advance that the person you desire, love, laugh with and hold dear will turn out to be someone you’ll still want to sleep with 40 years from now.

But I know how to tell once you’re in a relationship that it’s a partnership designed to last.

If the stresses and strifes of everyday existence begin to take the shine off your romance, and you begin to tell yourself that you really coulda done better, it is time for one of you to have surgery.

I know this from recent experience.

A dirty dish left on the coffee table became a ten-minute rant from yours truly. Forgetting to water the lawn caused a deep sigh of silent rebuke from the hubby. We were annoying each other in tiny ways all day.

What with the lockdown, the mask-wearing, all of the election nonsense, and our crashing economy, both Paul and I have been a little cranky the past few months. We’ve argued more than usual, and it…