Anne and Joseph were not your typical couple. First of all, they were married for almost sixty years. That all by itself is a major story line. However, it’s how she kept the couple together for so long that is the actual story. Before she was married, Anne’s grandmother gave her a secret. She told her that it was the secret to happiness and a long lasting marriage. Anne took the advice to heart and put it into motion. She never dreamed what it would lead to as the years passed by. When she finally shared her secret with her husband, he was amazed at what she had done.The couple had put away a fortune over the years. They never told anyone they had it.
Most relationships don’t last very long. Only a chosen few actually stand the test of time. Is having a huge secret together the secret to longevity?
Joseph and Anne were together for more than sixty years. That in itself is just amazing. When she passed on Joseph shared their secret with one of their grandchildren.
He asked one of their grand kids if they would share their secret through social media. Joseph wanted as many people as possible to know.
Anne had a show box in their closet. Joseph was told to never open it and to never ask what was inside of it.
After thinking about it Joseph finally agreed to his wife terms on the show box. That doesn’t mean that he never wondered though.
As it usually does, life threw everything it had at the couple. Joseph thought about it sometimes but always honored his promise to not open the shoe box.
In times that Joseph thought about opening the box, he thought about his wife. The love and dedication she showed to him was enough to have him keep honoring his promise to her.
As the family grew over the years, so did the show box. Nobody knew about it though except for Joseph and he never touched it.
Once Anne became severely sick it became obvious that she was not going to be with us much longer. They saw many doctors but they all said the same thing; there wasn’t much they could do.
During her time of sickness Anne had plenty of bad days. Even in the worst of time Joseph was right there beside her.
Once they realized how things were going to turn out, they started to make plans. She was happy with the life they had shared, but he was not happy to let her go.
When she knew her time remaining was short, Anne gave Joseph the ok to go into the shoe box. It had been in the closet all of those years and he had never touched it.
Once he finally pulled the box out of the closet Joseph was amazed at what was inside. He found two dolls and a lot of money!
The hand woven dolls were put in the box in the middle of all the money. There was just about $85,000 in the box.
Anne once said that her grandmother gave her the secret to making a marriage last: “Days before our wedding, my grandmother told me that the secret to a happy and lasting marriage was never to argue; That if I was ever angry with you I would shut up and wove a doll, this would help me calm down and order my ideas to clarify the situation.”
He figured that since he only found two dolls, that he had done a good job in not making his wife upset. He wondered where all of the money came from though.
When Joseph asked Anne about the money she told him “It’s the money I earned by selling my wrists (dolls), I only kept the first and last I made.” Joseph could not believe what she had told him.
He was so touched over what his wife had done that he cried with her right there on the spot. Then he realized just how many times she must have been upset with him. The money told the story.
He probably would have liked to have it sooner so they could spend it together but Joseph was not angry at what was in the box. He probably felt a little bad about it though.
The more Joseph understood how many times he made his wife angry at him. Once he shared the story with the rest of the family though, they found it pretty funny.
Turned into a box full of $85,000 that was collected over a lifetime. She never expressed her anger at her husband. Anne just knitted a new doll every time.
By never showing her anger to her husband, the couple never argued. Instead it turned into a nice little nest egg for the remaining family members.
The couple that never argued put away that huge some of money without Joseph ever knowing about it. They used the money to pay off loans and pay for good educations for the grand kids.
This story shows you the value of saving money and the value of learning how and where to direct your anger. Anne used her anger to give her family a sense of security that not many ever find. By doing so, she also kept her marriage happy at all times.
