My neighbors Parker and Patty are always telling me how proud they are to be a part of Port O Connor, Texas. They say it is a great community and so friendly. Last week Patty and Parker went to the Sweetheart Banquet for the first time. WOW! What fun! But what was really impressive to Patty and Parker was the number of couples married 50 years or more. At the table where they sat, they met newlyweds married less than six months ago on POC beach, empty nesters with kids in college who retired here with great joy and a couple in their 80’s married more than 60 years. This older couple told the whole table their love story. They fell in love in Port O Connor, raised their family here, fished, oystered, labored for others and owned their own business in this area, shared life with a combo of seven siblings and lost two in wars and conflicts, raised three children, lost two before they were grown, enjoyed seven grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren and have great greats arriving later this year. They have faced success and failure, good times and bad, cancer, foreclosure, bankruptcy, recession, several wars, economic downturns, sexual revolutions and the technological marvels of their day. They have lived to see drastic changes in the area they call home, and still they not only survive but thrive. The wife said she used a ten-key by touch and typed 60 words per minute, but her grand’s had no idea what that even meant. Her great grand’s taught her how to text and check in on Facebook, and her daughter was the first ‘career woman in her POC class. The husband said the jetties did not exist and game wardens were not known when he started fishing these waters as a boy. They told of changes both great and small challenging and shaping their lives. Patty said she had to wonder how they did it all. So, she asked the husband how they made love last for all those years. He leaned over, kissed his 86 year old bride who he claimed to have loved since he was only a boy and said loudly, ‘ love is a choice young lady, love is a choice. . I decided the day I married this filly that I would love her til I died. I ain’t dead yet, but I can tell you that through it all, good and bad, we have stood together and loved each other. You can do anything if you have a good partner’ He laughed and finished his lunch. Patty watched as they held hands and shared comments and enjoyed the banquet together. Many couples were honored, but this couple made a difference in Patty’s understanding of love and commitments. It is not about feelings, but about choices made… the feelings will follow if you make the choice. Patty and Parker left the banquet feeling truly grateful for the legacy of love set by those POC couples at the banquet. As Patty signed her Valentine card for Parker later that evening after the banquet, she thoughtfully wrote that she was making a choice to love Parker forever…even on the days it was somewhat hard. That’s what old married couples do, and what makes them old married couples. Make the choice and caringly wait for feelings to follow. Happy Valentines got a whole new meaning for one couple this year….