I DO, Memoirs of Marriage brings the stories of 11 couples who have been married over 50 years. More often than not, these couples have faced a lifetime of challenges and developed constructive ways of working solutions together. Some battled alcoholism, others were abused, or cheated on; some lost children, others were sterile and struggled with adoption issues. Money was often short and living spaces cramped. Illness was pervasive and age had taken its toll, bringing chronic health conditions. But all have retained the love in their eyes of their first meeting. That love is as young and fresh today as it had been more than half a century ago. How do they do it? How can these octogenarians and nonagenarians be as much in love today? We became simply fascinated by these questions that were puzzling us on a daily basis, while we were tending to their medical needs. We had to find out the answers.... With our encouragement, over a three-year period, a group of eleven couples, who had connected through our office practice, decided to meet periodically and explore together the reasons for their extensive marital success. Little by little, they developed a level of comfort with each other, such that they could uncover common factors to their long lasting love. Each author committed to writing a chapter, disclosing openly the problems they had encountered during their own life and the solutions they applied. This book, I Do, was born. There has been a remarkable increase in the number of books published in the last five years on Couple and Marital Issues. The vast majority of these books have been written by psychologists, practicing family and marital counseling. I Do presents the real voices of older couples, who have endured life in the trenches. It proposes the survival strategies that they have personally developed and tested in over a half century of marital commitment. These are their stories and their secrets.
