I’m currently in Copenhagen visiting my grandpa (ok not really my grandpa but my grandmother’s brother) and his girlfriend. It’s so interesting because they decided never to get married, and they’ve had a really interesting (and long) history together. I don’t know all the particulars, but…all I know now is that they are adorable.
They weren’t always so adorable though. When my grandpa got his heart attack about a year ago, I dropped him off in Copenhagen with his (ex) girlfriend (then). When they were together they fought like an old married couple, (except they were never married) so they basically got all the downsides of marriage without ever really taking the plunge. It looked like a bad situation and I was worried. I think they had been broken up officially for over 20 years at that point, and it looked like they had good reasons why.
But now, a year later, they got back together and now they are the cutest things ever. They go for walks together, they make food together, and they joke about being old people.
It’s funny, because it sort of restores my faith in this thing we call love. It’s what Aziz Ansari talks about in his book, Modern Romance, as companionate love. With all the divorce going on in this world, it’s so nice to see two people, at the tail end of their lives, committing to this new form of life. It may not be what we young people think of as love, but for them, it really works.
And honestly, being here with the two of them, it’s one of the most beautiful love stories I have heard of- spanning generations, and maybe not coming to the fairy tale ending we all think of in princess stories ( I doubt they will ever get married at this point) but it is a happy ending nonetheless because I think they are both better people because of it. And live happier, more fulfilled lives.
So I Quit My Job and Moved to India 