Thought for the Week

Timothy D. Stein, MFT, CSAT

September 16, 2013

When I’m 64

“When I get older, losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I’d been out ’til quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I’m sixty-four?”
-McCartney & Lennon

Relationships are tough.  We grow.  We change.  Our partners grow and change as well.  One of the challenges of a relationship is accepting this process of growth and change.  When we expect our partner to be a slightly older version of the person we started this relationship with, we are bound to be disappointed.  Our partner, just like us, is in an on-going process of becoming – not simply aging.  As human beings, we are less like a bottle of grape juice that has been in the pantry for a while and more like a bottle of wine that started out as grape juice but has become significantly more over time.

Am I accepting of my own growth and change?  Am I accepting of my partner’s growth and change?  What joys and blessings await me (us) if I embrace who we are becoming instead of holding on to who we were?