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“Instead of thinking as 50/50, we have thought of it as 100/100,” said Paul Joslin, the other half to Erma Joslin.
URBANDALE, Iowa — For many people, 77 years is considered a lifetime. For Paul and Erma Joslin, they have spent that lifetime together.
In 1944, Paul and Erma met during a Sunday school skating party. Erma was skating with a boy she liked, Paul said, when he swooped in and took her attention. The two said they’ve been “going round and round ever since.”
They’re now coming up on 77 years married, and have built a massive family of 58 in Iowa after moving from New York, WOI reports.
Over the course of more than 80 years being together, Paul and Erma have traveled to 35 countries across 5 continents, fostered children from an abusive home, worked for Drake University and the American Heart Association in Des Moines, Iowa and so, so much more.
“It’s just happened day by day,” Paul said. “We didn’t plan on living this long. We didn’t plan on being married this long.”
At 98 and 95, Paul and Erma still exercise every day. While supporting their physical health, they support the health of their marriage too, by showing up for one another.
“We get up in the morning, help each other get dressed, help with the breakfast, wash the dishes, read the paper,” Paul said. “There’s no magic. You just do it.”
That practical approach is how they’ve been able to stay together so long as their love goes deeper than what meets the eye.
“She took life as it came,” Paul said about Erma. “When we had the ups, she enjoyed them, and when there were downs, she dealt with them… she was just even-tempered and that was wonderful.”
“He always said nice things. Very few complaints, which is kind of nice,” Erma laughed.
You might have heard the common 50/50 approach when it comes to relationships: each person puts in equal effort. However, Paul and Erma have found something else that works for them.
“We have thought of it as 100/100,” they said. “When one person couldn’t do something, the other would pick it up. I would mow the lawn, but if I was disabled or something, she would mow the lawn. If she was preparing dinner and a diaper needed changing, I would change the diaper.”
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