Want to know how to make a relationship last? Or are you desperately searching for the best way to get over heartbreak? Forget about learning love lessons from the latest cliched rom-com, or wasting hours reading the newest self-help book. lnstead, have a chat with your Nan and Pop. There really is no-one more qualified to let you in on life’s mysteries than those who’ve been through it all.
There’s a reason that romantic films end with a couple getting together. Because once the wedding day ends, 82-year-old Patti Mclean says married life is more like Jack Nicholson going psychotic in The Shining.
“lt’s a lot of give and take. you don’t get too much, but there’s a hell of a lot of giving. There were plenty of times when I wanted to chuck it in.”
With 58 years of marriage behind her, Patti says the only way to make it work is to shed any notions that a long-lasting relationship equals constant happiness.
“When you first get married, you expect a lot from your partner in order to be happy . . . When you stop expecting, you get along a lot better.”
