A sweet elderly couple was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. For decades, people in their town had admired them. They never argued in public, always seemed cheerful together, and everyone wondered the same thing:
What was their secret?
A curious reporter from the local newspaper finally decided to find out. He visited the couple at their home to ask how they managed to stay happily married for half a century.
The husband smiled, leaned back in his chair, and said, “Well… the secret actually goes all the way back to our honeymoon.”
The reporter leaned forward eagerly.
“We spent our honeymoon at the Grand Canyon,” the husband began. “One day we decided it would be fun to ride mules down the canyon trail.”
“So there we were, slowly making our way down the narrow path. Not long after we started, my wife’s mule suddenly stumbled.”
“My wife looked at the mule calmly and said, very quietly, ‘That’s once.’”
The reporter raised an eyebrow.
The husband continued.
“A little while later, the mule stumbled again. My wife looked at it the same calm way and said, ‘That’s twice.’”
“Then about halfway down the canyon, the mule stumbled a third time.”
The husband paused for dramatic effect.
“My wife slowly reached into her bag, pulled out a revolver… and shot the mule.”
The reporter’s eyes widened.
“I was absolutely shocked!” the husband said. “I started yelling, ‘What on earth did you do that for?!’”
The husband then smiled and nodded toward his wife sitting nearby.
“She slowly turned toward me… looked me straight in the eyes… and calmly said,
‘That’s once.’”
The husband chuckled.
“And ever since that day,” he said with a grin, “we’ve had a very peaceful marriage.”