Finding long-lasting relationships looks different now, and that’s OK
Every married couple remembers how they first met and fell in love with their spouse, whether it be through attending the same church or school or using the same dating application.
As we saw in the Sunday, Feb. 15, edition of the Butler Eagle, senior couples in the Butler County area met largely through common connections in their community. It was the only way people could meet one another prior to the advent of online communication.
Two younger couples who live in the area met on dating applications, with both couples saying they may never have gotten together, let alone went on a date, if not for online means.
While many modern young couples still do meet the old-fashioned way, it’s interesting to hear the couples interviewed, the Calderons and the Cochrans, say they owe their relationships to online communication.
The older couples interviewed — the Howards, the Limanskys, the Gallaghers and the Millers — each said that, although their relationships were built on common interests and proximity, they have been sustained largely on good communication and patience.
It’s not like good communication and patience cannot be applied by people who met their significant other online. The means to maintain a good relationship seem to have remained the same over the 50-plus years some of the senior couples have been together — and couples of any age can abide by them.
And there is one more aspect of a relationship that is the glue that keeps people together, young and old.
“Love? That’s just that tingly, special feeling,” said Becky Gallagher.
— ET
