Couples Therapy Part One

Yesterday was a unique day for me in the respect that I gave my father who is nearly eighty years old and his wife relationship advice, separately mind you without either of them knowing I would be speaking to the other. Strange yes but uniquely satisfying and pretty cool since my dad thanked me profusely for my advice, said it made sense to him, and even said he would try to use some of it, wow!! I never in a million years could have imagined I would be helping my dad with his relationship at this stage in our lives or any for that matter, it also saddens me to know that at his age he's still having serious relationship problems.

What's with that??!! Do we ever move forward, beyond our own egos to have a relationship without petty differences that escalate into deal breakers, relationship road bumps, or even divorce after seventy? Ok I get it if the relationship is destructive and abusive, but should couples walk away from long marriages for the sake of being bored and annoyed with each other, or should they try like my dad and his wife to get supportive help from a therapist and a little advice thrown in from a daughter? A dear friend of mine told me an interesting antidote the other day about three elderly women she knows who've recently lost their husbands, one of them is so sad and misses her loving husband so much, she actually said that she wished he hadn't been so nice to her so she wouldn't miss him so much, the other two ladies were so relieved about their husbands passing that they've just started to have the time of their lives!

Kind of funny but really it's so sad, should these women who are only now having the" time of their lives" have left their husbands years ago, would they have had the times of their lives a long time ago? I definitely don't have the answer that's for sure, I don't even know if my dad an his wife would be better off together or separated, I do know it would be very hard on my dad who is beginning to have some minor memory loss, and hope with all my heart that they work out their problems and live peacefully, happily, lovingly, and respectfully together for the rest of their lives.