I’m with you, Sharon. I reuse paper and especially bows. At our house, we have a number of wrapped gift boxes with wrapped lids that Les and I just slip gifts into and reuse every year.

When all else fails, I wrap gifts in newspaper, decorated with previous Christmas cards and festive bows.

The gist of it was that while Les and I and our four children were once a tight nuclear family, now there are five family units–the two of us form one and each of our children has their own family.

We still grieve when they grieve, rejoice when they rejoice. We help them whenever and however they ask. But their lives are theirs and our life is ours.

It was difficult to come to the differentiation that it isn’t “our” family anymore, but we have all grown stronger in the process.

Of course, we will always love one another and we will always be there for one another in our large extended family.

I would say the same about my marriage of 63 years and four months. There have been very bad times and the ugly word “divorce” came up two different times, but, as I look back, I can see what a shame it would have been to miss the last thirty years. They have been the best.

I say that if your marriage is not happy, figure out a way to make it happy. There are books, counselors, pastors, support groups, sex therapists, etc. available to you. Life is too short to live it in the presence of someone with whom you are not happy.

Don’t wait for him – change yourself and your marriage.

I am thankful for the health that I have, not perfect but good enough. I am thankful to have been granted over 81 years on this planet and great hope for the afterlife.

We have had numerous rough spots, tragedies, and illnesses, but life is good and getting better day by day.