S5-EP8: Debbie & Sam on 50 Years of Marriage: Gratitude, Celebration… and Grief
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SUMMARY
Debbie and Sam talk about 50 years of marriage in this episode: gratitude, celebration, grief, mortality, and appreciating the present moment. Feb. 3, 2023 is their 50th anniversary. They were in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Episode Notes
Debbie brings her favorite recurring guest, husband Sam Harrington, back onto the show. This is a special episode because they are celebrating 50 years of marriage on Feb. 3, 2023. They were in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
They were married a half century ago, in 1973. It was truly another age, pre-Internet and so much more. They were both 21. That’s an astonishing fact: they were obviously too young to get married. But they did and the marriage has lasted, with many ups and downs.
They acknowledge how lucky they are and how much they have to be grateful for. They have six grandchildren, they like hanging out together, and Sam is still teasing Debbie and making her laugh.
They talk about the trivial and the existential and how it’s okay to feel grief when they look back at their youthful passion and how young and beautiful they were. And how now is a time to think about their mortality and to try and enjoy each present moment.
Things do change in a long marriage, as you’ll hear.
One thing doesn’t, however. As always, Debbie and Sam disagree about a lot of things. “But that’s all good…” A phrase they’ve adopted after watching W1A, a very funny British TV series starring Hugh Bonneville.
Mentioned in this episode or useful:
- W1A (British TV Series about the BBC, 2014–2020)
- W1A Excerpt: BBC Group Activity | W1A (Hugh Bonneville character says “That’s all good” at 3:00)
- At Peace: Choosing a Good Death After a Long Life by Sam Harrington (Grand Central Life & Style, 2018)
Previous episodes featuring Debbie Weil and her husband Sam Harrington:
- S5-E1: Debbie & Sam Explore Iceland With Two Grandchildren
- S4-EP21: Debbie & Sam Wrap Up Season 4: What’s Next, the 100-year-old life, and more
- S4-EP6: Debbie & Sam on Entering the Land of the Old
- S3-EP22: Debbie & Sam on Getting Calm and Centered in Baja
- S3-EP16: Debbie & Sam on Fasting For Five Days and Why They Were Crazy Enough to Do It
- S2-EP24: Debbie & Sam on the Gap Year For Everyone, Silver Linings, and Not Should’ing
- S2-EP18: Debbie & Sam on the New Normal, Quarantines, Immunity Passports, and Masks & Gloves
- S2-EP12: Debbie & Sam on the Coronavirus, Magical Thinking, and Aging
- S1-EP10: On Debbie & Sam’s Bucket List: Living in France
- S1-EP2: Debbie & Sam on How They Decided to Take a Gap Year at Age 62
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Our Media Partners:
- CoGenerate (formerly Encore.org)
- MEA and with thanks to Chip Conley
- Next For Me (former media partner and in memory of Jeff Tidwell)
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Credits:
- Host: Debbie Weil
- Producer: Far Out Media
- Music: Lakeside Path By Duck Lake
Connect with us:
- Email: [email protected]
- Twitter: @debbieweil
- Insta: @debbieweil
- Debbie and Sam's blog: Gap Year After Sixty
Thanks to our media partners
Encore.org, our newest media partner, is an ideas and innovation hub tapping the talent of those 50+ as a force for good. Founder and CEO Marc Freedman is an award-winning social entrepreneur and author, most recently, of How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations. Looking for a great gap-year transition program? Check out Encore Fellowships, which match skilled, seasoned professionals with social-sector organizations in high-impact, paid assignments.
Modern Elder Academy is a program dedicated to navigating mid-life transitions. MEA, based in Baja California, Mexico, provides the place and the tools to start reframing your lifetime of experience. Grow whole, not old. Founder Chip Conley is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning hospitality entrepreneur and a rock star of the mid-life transition movement. His newest book is Wisdom @ Work: the Making of a Modern Elder.
Next For Me is an important new resource for the 50+ crowd focused on rewriting life. Taking a gap year or timeout may be the best way to figure out "what's next" when you're in this stage of life. Founder Jeff Tidwell explains, Next For Me "connects and inspires our generation to evolve our post-50 lives through new work, a new purpose, or a new social contribution."