“NOBODY thought we’d last a day, let alone 60 years.”
This statement beautifully sums up the marriage of a Yellowwood Park couple.
Thursday, 3 June, marks Dusty and Lorraine Miller’s diamond anniversary and the happy couple said given a chance, they would do everything all over again.
Speaking about his six decades as a married man, Dusty said simplicity is the key to the longevity of their nuptials.
“There’s an easy way of doing this, unfortunately, the human race does not think small. We think big. But it is simple – if I am the cleverest man in the room, I’m in the wrong room. She says that as well and we both agree that we aren’t the cleverest men in the room, so we talk things through instead and we come up with an answer,” he said.
As simple as that may sound, they were quick to highlight that they’d been through many ups and downs in their lives, and likened it to a hospital heart rate monitor.
“It’s just like the heart machine, when it goes up and down it means that there is life and when it is a straight line, then you’re finished,” added the multilingual Dusty, who is fluent in Shona and still brushing up on isiZulu.
The Millers have four children, nine grandchildren and twin great-granddaughters who they have not met yet as they reside in England. Traditionally, diamonds are a 60th-anniversary gift, but the couple, who play by their own rules, have other plans instead.
“I’m not a jewellery person. I like brochures and we’re having one made by a professional jeweller, it’ll be the only one in the world. It’ll be designed by my granddaughter,” said Lorraine, who opted her husband put the money into something else.
“He was going to buy me a diamond necklace that would have cost a fortune and I said no,” she added.
“We’re involved with karate for 54 years and for 40 odds years we’ve taught it in the same hall on Kenyon Howden Road. We still teach karate, we had a tournament recently at the Bluff Christian Academy,” they said.
Dusty believes that their involvement with the sport over the years hase done more for their community than all the politicians put together.
Another element of wisdom that keeps them happy is Dusty’s witty sense of humour.
“Humour keeps the doctor away – I can be miserable, but does it change anything? I have a choice, I could be rude or approach the situation with humour. Change what you can change and have the brains to know what you can’t,” he said.
