Hey, this is Trey.

Thank you for joining us for a Tuesday edition of our podcast from

snowy cold. I guess the snow is stop, but it's still on the ground. South Carolina, we're not

used to that, but it only happens every 25 years.

Speaking of things that don't happen that often, I met a man last week who said he was on the verge of celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary, 50 years.

That is quite an achievement. Didn't meet his wife, so I don't know how big of an achievement that is, but 50 years is a long time to stay committed to something or someone. I drive by restaurants in my hometown that have been around longer than I have been around. I take note of law firms where partners have stuck together for the entirety of their careers.

I was at a little drop-in, I guess you call it, and former co-worker of mine, former chief of staff, now the district attorney in the largest

county in South Carolina mentioned during her remarks that we had worked together for 18 years,

which I counted it up, which is a challenge for me, but I did count it up,

and she's right.

18 years we worked together until she went on to greener pastures.

I could not be prouder of her.

So you begin to think about human nature and what makes us, what makes it, who doesn't make it,

what propels us to survive versus what makes us give up.

And you wonder whether you can analogize more broadly to a country.

Why does some countries make it while others are adrift

in chaos? How to some democracies survive while others are relegated to the dustpin of history.

I do like studying the Greeks and the Romans. They seemingly ruled the world as they knew it until they didn't, until it all fell

apart. We turned 250 years old in about five months, and I don't know the best analogy, partnership,

marriage, contract. What I do know is we are going through a rocky stretch, like a couple

who aren't quite sleeping in separate houses, but they're definitely sleeping in separate bedrooms.

And you start to wonder, how does this happen? How did it happen? was it always destined to be like this are we

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