The fact that we are both married now has changed everything about our relationship. No longer do we write or call one another with any kind of frequency. I have never forgotten what it felt like to be friendless, and I sometimes worry about how my life would change if something happened to her. No replacement could fill break in my heart. I dare not imagine how alone I would feel. If you haven’t guessed, my best friend is my wife; they are one and same.

The time will soon come when our children will move on and leave us with one another. What my wife and I have cultivated over years goes beyond boundaries of marriage. I still laugh when I hear that phrase, “Marry your best friend,” because I don’t believe that it can be done. It takes a lifetime to create a best friend. Best friends have scars where they have cut each other and healed each other. The proof I see in eyes of old, who have fired metal of friendship longer than I have been alive.

The physical appearance of a couple that has remained married for untold years is but an illusion. What I failed to recognize for so long is how time has honored them. Skin soft and worn that hangs loosely is reminder that they have resisted pull of adversity. Weakened legs and swaying backs are not from age, but from carrying one another through difficult times. They are not deaf; rather, they simply understand that no other voice is as significant as that of their spouse. It was my ears that were deaf, for whisper of their words speaks language of wisdom. Our elders are proof of strength so great that even Death cannot part them.

Marry person you love. Hang on to one another as you ride through all ditches life throws at you. Don’t quit, and, God willing, you’ll find what I have: a real best friend.

My parents doted on their son and he grew to become more and more selfish, inflexible, hostile, arrogant, money-loving, verbally abusive, mentally abusive, materalistic and more. He married a woman with same qualities.

I had to be on my own emotionally and searched for attention and love outside home. There was no love at all at home. My grandparents provided material things for all four of us to survive. But I was empty, suffering from severe anxiety, depression, and zero self-esteem.

When it came time for me to finally marry, and I had had multiple bad relationships with men because I gravitated toward losers like my father and men who physically and emotionally abused me, like I was used to at home.

For once in my life I was with a man who could make a living on his own without help from someone else, who was kind and trusting and uplifting, and he actually cares about me. For me that's a miracle. I thought I was doomed to sit in front of television with lights off like my useless mother.

They were not happy that I married. They gave me no gift and no wedding. Two years ago I had major surgery and my mother didn't even call.

She's had many surgeries throughout her freakish life and I visited her nonstop. Then my father became ill and I visited him every day.

But in background their son was worried my husband would "steal" my parents' home and his "inheritance." My mother inherited money from HER mother. That's what my parents lived off of.

Their son had spent so much over years and accumulated miles of debt from his extravagant lifestyle, he constanly needs more and more. He found a way to get their house and savings.

Now they are elderly and living in his home because they have lost everything they have to their viscious son. And they have forgotten they have a daughter, or they choose to forget.

They never paid me much mind anyway over years. They thought of me as a useless drone who could possibly help take care of them in their old age but of no use in any other way.

I am now alone with my husband. But you know what? I am lucky to finally be free of noose around my neck. I catered to their every whim in their old age demands. Now their beloved son has to figure out how to get rid of them as he lavishly spends their savings.

And that will be Part Two. Until then....