Last fall, Elsie and I celebrated our 51st anniversary - 51 years of wedded bliss. Okay, it wasn't all bliss. We have survived 50 years of being married. No, it's better than that, but it wouldn't have happened without perseverance. We refused to give up.

When Dave (our oldest) and Maia first got married, they moved to Phoenix. After their first year, we visited them, and during our trip we travelled together to San Diego, and then up to the Los Angeles area before returning to Arizona. Along the way, we asked Dave what he had learned from us and the marriage he had seen up close and personal for all of his life. With no delay, he said, "Failure is not an option."

That's true.

As I'm editing this, I'm watching the French Open, and I noticed a quote from Roland Garros on the wall of the tennis stadium which honours his name. It says, "Victory belongs to the most tenacious." He took a quote from Napoleon and made it his own. The original was, "Victory belongs to the most persevering." It's true. You can't quit your way to winning at anything!