If couples start to look like each other after a while, then Mel and Joey Schwanke are virtually twins. Together for 65 years, they claim to have the secret to a lasting marriage. Wait for it: matching outfits.
The 81-year-old Nebraskan told The Huffington Post that she and her husband have dressed alike for 35 years in order to "enhance" their relationship. Sounds half-baked, but it's obviously working so don't knock it.
"We're of the old school where you get married once and that's it," says Schwanke. "We've been together 24 hours a day at work and at home.
Apparently wife Joey picks out the outfits, which typically consist of florals, for the couple who run a flower business in Fremont. That's a grand total of 146 custom-made matching ensembles, which coordinates Joey's dress with Mel's tie.
Schwanke claims the real secret to her marriage's lasting power is love and respect.
"To this day, if he does something for me I thank him, she says. "If we run into each other, we say excuse me. We fully respect each other and consider each other with every decision we make."
Move over or Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, who've been together almost 15 years despite recent rumours of strife which Pinkett Smith claims were "ridiculous."
"What's helped us is being supportive, no matter what the situation is," said Will in a recent interview. "I'm so lucky to have someone like Jada. She's really an incredible woman, wife and mother ... she absolutely is unfazed by the weight and the pressures of life. She is so calm and cool and easy in any situation. She can bear anything, and I just love that about her."
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy my husband of 13 years and me a couple of Hawaiian tops... It can't hurt, right?
Been with your partner for an eternity? What's your secret?
Kudos to the Ceeb. All week long, just as Ontario considers passing anti-bullying legislation, the show Connect with Mark Kelley is dishing all things bully and bullying.
Earlier this year, a speaker's corner was set up in a Gatineau, Quebec school. Over the course of a week, more than 150 students spilled their hearts out on the subject. The testimonies in #bullyPROOF are both illuminating and raw. Watch and learn and share.
So the million-dollar question: what's the best way to react to bullying? According to a 2007 study by York University psychology professor, Debra Pepler, the majority of kids do nothing. And boys and girls handle it differently. While females were most likely to ask for help, males tried humour, physical aggression, even revenge.
So much for sticks and stones? Pepler, co-director of the national anti-bullying organization PREVNet, says to avoid emotional responses, which only exacerbates the bullying. A rational response tends to 'de-escalate' the provocation.
For parents of teenagers, it might be all too tempting to threaten jail time for skipping classes. But for a Texan student, the veiled threat actually came true.
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