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60 Secrets to a Happy Marriage After 60 from your Sisters at Sixty and Me

By Margaret Manning August 20, 2015 Family

“Love and marriage, love and marriage go together…” Well, you know the rest of the song. If only it was that easy! In many ways, falling in love is simple. Turning our passion into a lasting marriage is something else entirely. Fortunately, we have our sisters in the Sixty and Me community to turn to for advice. Many people in our community have been happily married for 4 decades of more and they want to share their secrets with you.

What Are the Secrets to a Happy Marriage After 60?

According to the women in our community, staying close to your partner requires a combination of kindness, honesty, attention to detail and trust. It’s about taking the time to care about the little things, while keeping any larger problems that you encounter in perspective.

Many women also talked about the importance of allowing your husband to express his individuality. This is similar to the advice that dating couch, Lisa Copeland, gave me during our last interview.

She explained that men over 60 want women to express their femininity and let them feel like men. This may not be a popular argument, but, given the responses of the women in our community about marriage, there is an element of truth to this perspective. After all, women in their 60s expect to be able to follow their passions and express their individuality. Should we expect anything less from the men in our lives?

Here are a few secrets to a happy marriage after 60 from your Sixty and Me sisters:

  1. Put kindness at the top of your list
  2. Support each other’s interests and hobbies
  3. Give encouragement and intimacy
  4. Don’t underestimate forgiving and forgetting
  5. Be his friend. Everything else takes care of itself
  6. Give each other space and time to do the things you want to do
  7. Give unconditional love and make him feel like a man
  8. Pay attention to the little things – give him a hug at the end of every day
  9. Compromise and don’t be selfish
  10. Find ways to stay romantic
  11. Be honest but appreciate his strengths
  12. Make a genuine effort to understand his point of view
  13. Remember to have fun together
  14. Occasionally surprise him with a treat
  15. Make a man feel like he’s your hero
  16. Give him a home-made card, poem or handwritten letter
  17. Don’t take him for granted
  18. Never go to sleep angry
  19. Find ways to stay healthy together
  20. Look for ways to create things together
  21. Trust and appreciate him
  22. Try not to take life too seriously – just enjoy your time together
  23. Never stay angry with each other for more than a day
  24. Open your mind and your heart – the rest takes care of itself!
  25. Take care of each other
  26. Don’t be too serious. Learn to laugh with him
  27. Think about your partner before yourself
  28. Be nice to each other
  29. Show kindness, respect, and love
  30. Keep your own personal space, where possible
  31. Appreciate and celebrate your differences
  32. Bring love, loyalty, tolerance and romance into your relationship
  33. Do your thing. Let him do his. Get together sometimes!
  34. Be his best friend first and his wife second
  35. Respect and enjoy each other
  36. Never ask him “Do I look fat in this?”
  37. Pay attention when your husband talks
  38. Trust him above all else
  39. Don’t try to change him
  40. Take trips apart once a year
  41. Share love, understanding and confidence
  42. Appreciate your differences and don’t try to make him like you
  43. Be fair when you argue and don’t jump to conclusions
  44. Be honest with yourself and act as if you have nothing to lose – you don’t!
  45. If something disturbs you, tell him
  46. Support one another – say “I love you” every day and mean it
  47. Enjoy hugs, dinners out and sex
  48. Find a shared hobby to enjoy together
  49. Laugh at his jokes and do things together
  50. Love him unconditionally
  51. Learn to respect each other
  52. Give him your attention, love and forgiveness
  53. Have your own friends
  54. Remember that it’s ok to be a little selfish
  55. Learn to grown together
  56. Laugh together and don’t take life too seriously
  57. Have a joint plan for your finances
  58. Never say “I told you so”
  59. Respect your husband’s privacy – we all have secrets
  60. Know his triggers and don’t press them

Maintaining a successful marriage after 60 requires effort from both partners. At the same time, there is no reason that we can’t take the first step.

The message of the women in our community is simple – if you want to maintain a happy relationship, learn to accept your husband, warts and all. Act as if you expect him to be your hero – chances are he’ll rise to the challenge. Find joint goals and hobbies, but, also be individuals.

Perhaps most importantly, don’t take life too seriously. Learn to laugh at the small things together. Life is full of surprises, but, there is nothing that you can’t handle together.

How long have you been married? What other advice would you give to the women in our community regarding how to maintain a strong relationship after 60? What are the secrets to having a happy marriage? Please add your comments below.

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Sue Plumtree

My husband and I met when we were both 70 (a second marriage for the two of us). We’ve now been together 8 years, 4 months and 7 days, each of them precious.

There’s one thing that I didn’t see in the article or tips – the importance of timing.

I’m a morning person while he perks up afternoon or evening. There are often things I want to tell him at breakfast time but I know that mornings are definitely not a good time so, as hard as holding back sometimes is for me, I save it for when he’s fully alert which tends to be near lunchtime.

Sometimes he starts deep (or even techie conversations (he’s a retired engineer) in the evening but this is what I’ve learned.

I know it matters to him to talk about whatever it is so I make the effort to really listen until I no longer can keep up.

Then I tell him I really want to hear what he has to say and I don’t want to miss anything so could we continue the conversation tomorrow?

The wonderful thing is that I regard my husband as a very interesting man and I tell him so, often.

One thing I read in the article was the issue of trust. That took us a while as we both had some pretty painful marriages but, having the patience and love to build that trust over time means that we have some deep conversations and feel safe making ourselves emotionally vulnerable.

And, at the bottom, there is curiosity and acceptance.

The Author

Margaret Manning is the founder of Sixty and Me. She is an entrepreneur, author and speaker. Margaret is passionate about building dynamic and engaged communities that improve lives and change perceptions. Margaret can be contacted at margaret@sixtyandme.com

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