This week, my next-door neighbors, Martha and Carroll, celebrated their seventieth wedding anniversary. What can you say other than “Wow!”

They are great people – sweet, kind, caring, sharp as a tack, and not self-absorbed. And not only that, but they are interesting, too. They’ve lived in their house since 1942 and are the unofficial neighborhood historians. Since they don’t get out much, their focus is on what is happening along our street. And they’ve drawn me in to their attitude. Instead of not knowing who my neighbors are, I know them and actually care about them – kind of a throw back to an earlier, pre-television and internet blogging way of life.

They are inspirational. I want to be like them. I don’t think I’ll see my 70th wedding anniversary (I didn’t following the first rule to having a long marriage – marry young), but I have hope for seeing, and enjoying, my 50th. They are what growing old should be like.

Here’s to you, Martha and Carroll. Congratulations!