Everyone fantasizes of falling in love and living happily ever after. True love and romance, on the other hand, is far more difficult than it appears. So, 70 years of marriage is something to be proud of.

Indeed, there should be more than just celebrating. For surviving so many decades of partnership, you should be given a medal, a plaque, or something similar as a badge of honor.

Melvin and Nancy Behning, Anna’s grandparents, went viral on their 70th wedding anniversary. ‘When I got the notification, I was practically scrubbing my kitchen floors.

‘When I told Grandpa and Grandma that they were famous, Grandpa said, ‘What newspaper?’ (lol, he had no idea what the internet was),’ Behning added.

Behning wrote a blog article dedicated to the 91-year-old and 86-year-old couple. Behning vowed in her article that she would reveal the ‘secret’ to being married for seven decades, which she discovered after questioning her grandparents.

Nancy and Melvin met at a Mitchell, South Dakota roller rink. Melvin proposed at a local ballpark not long after that fatal night.

Nancy wore a $35 gown and a $15 veil on their wedding day in January 1952. She kept those special clothes and donned them for an anniversary photo session.

Melvin was dressed in his army uniform that day, which he still wears after all these years. Shortly after his marriage, Melvin was flown off to basic training in that same uniform.

Later in life, he fought in the Korean War. The pair has five children, 12 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren and still lives in the same village where they married.

She tells My Modern Met, ‘My grandparents have been there for me since I was born.’ ‘They tried to go to every concert, sporting event, and recreational activity they could. I was also fortunate enough to attend college in the same place as they do.

I would spend many nights doing laundry or eating Grandpa’s delicious steak at their house. As a result, being so near to my grandparents made this photo shoot even more memorable.’

So, what’s the key to their long-lasting marriage and long-term relationship?

Here’s what the couple had to say…
‘Forgive and forget,’ Nancy encourages, ‘and make the best of your life situations.’

Nancy also stated that the key to their happy marriage was having God at the center of their lives.

‘You won’t always agree, and you’ll have disagreements,’ Melvin adds, ‘but when you do, you sit down and speak about it and come up with an answer.’ ‘Don’t bring it up again!’

Behning’s wedding photographs are very stunning. And it’s really sweet, expressing these two souls’ true love. On Instagram, Behning wrote, ‘This is why I take my work as a wedding photographer sooo seriously.’

I’m still swooning over the only two images I’ve ever seen from my grandparents’ wedding day, seventy years later.

Love is a wonderful thing. Marriage is a divine blessing. I’m fortunate to have them as role models for long-term devotion.’