Jill Biden keeps 'mirror notes' to get 'real messages' across to Joe Biden and inspire him to keep his faith
President Joe Biden, who proudly called himself "Jill's husband," recently revealed that Jill leaves little messages "on the mirror above the sink" when she feels he needs some motivation for the day or his faith reinforced.
In his first interview since taking office, Biden told People Magazine how Jill Biden makes sure to communicate a "real message" by whatever means necessary as she reminds him of "hope" and helps to center him. "Jill, when she wants me to get a real message, she tapes it on the mirror above the sink where I shave," he said. "And she put up a great quote from Kierkegaard saying, 'Faith sees best in the dark.'"
The POTUS also went on to praise Jill for always supporting him. "She has a backbone like a ramrod," he said. "Everybody says marriage is 50/50. Well, sometimes you have to be 70/30. Thank God that when I'm really down, she steps in, and when she's really down, I'm able to step in. We've been really supportive of one another." He continued, "I've read all that data as well about families under pressure, and that's why I'm glad she kept her profession. It's really important that she's an educator, although she took off two years when we first got married because the boys were little. It's important that she has the things that she cares a great deal about, her independence. And yet we share each other's dreams."
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The FLOTUS also revealed how enduring hard times together had made their bond stronger. "There's that quote that says sometimes you become stronger in the fractured places," she said. "That's what we try to achieve."
In March 1975, love knocked on the couple's door when the two met on their first date — in Philadelphia. Both had been stung by tragedy and heartbreak. In 1972, Biden lost his first wife and college sweetheart, Neilia, and one-year-old daughter Naomi. She had divorced Bill Stevenson, a former college football player, after tying the knot in February 1970 when she was 18. She was 24 and Biden was a freshman senator, nine years her senior as he stood in a sports coat and loafers.
On the night of their blind date, she caught a glimpse of his shoes and thought the relationship was never going to take off. But the date went better than expected. A strong career woman, she became a teacher following her graduation and it took a while for her to meet Biden's sons, Beau and Hunter. But once she did, the trio hit it off and their lives quickly became intertwined. It took two years and five proposals for Joe to convince her after a string of “not yet” responses. On June 17, 1977, the pair exchanged vows in New York City at the United Nations chapel.
In the interview, Biden also credited Jill will being the glue that held her family together which allowed him to focus on his job. "We each could do our jobs, but not as well as we do them. I don't think I would have stayed involved in public life. Jill came along at a really important point and put my family back together. She's the glue that held it together, and I knew that I wanted to marry her shortly after I met her. … It's not that we don't fight and argue sometimes. I'm just lucky," he said. Jill jokingly added that "after 43 years of marriage there's really not that much more to fight about."