can you help

I think it might be quite nice to have your first paragraph about 'now' - the couple are happy - maybe elderly, maybe they are having a BBQ, and the grandchildren are running about in the garden, and all's very cosy and happy. The couple maybe look at each other lovingly, and think how lucky they've been, happy family, nice house etc.

Hope this is a help. Contact me again if you want more help.

Then you could go into a flashback in the second paragraph. Maybe you could go back to when they first met, 50 years ago or whatever, and start to say about some of the problems they have had. Maybe on their first date they are involved in a fight, a car crash or something! Or maybe their families don't like them being together, and they have to run off somewhere, or cope without any parental help etc. (Then the rest of the story could be running through the main problems of their life - have a think about the sort of things you could include - illnesses, redundancy, debts,..... Be careful not to get too carried away with numerous problems, as it could become a bit unlikely!