An elderly gent was invited to an old friend's home for dinner one evening. He was impressed by the way his buddy preceded every request to his wife with endearing terms such as: Darling, Honey, My Love, Pumpkin, Sweetheart, etc..
The couple had been married almost 70 years and, clearly, they were still very much in love.
While the wife was in the kitchen, the man leaned over to his host, and said: "I think it's wonderful that, after all these years, you still call your wife those loving pet names."
The old man hung his head. "I have to tell you the truth," he said. "Her name slipped my mind about 10 years ago, -- and I'm scared to death to ask the old bitch what it is."

I have friends who have been married for nearly 60 years now.  He has worked in human resources for much of that time and often when they would be out together, someone would come up and speak with him.  Without fail, he would chat for a bit without introducing his wife and one day, she confronted him asking if was embarassed to be her husband.

My friend told her quite honestly that the problem was not that he was not proud of her in every possible way but rather that more often than not, he had no idea what the person's name was who came up to say hello.  He couldn't find a way to politely introduce her the problem being exposed.  While still frustrated, she understood the dilemna.

A few weeks later, a co-worker came up and started chatting and once again, she stood by without being introduced.  When the person left, she showed great compassion and grace, lovingly patted him on the hand and commented that it must be tough to work with so many people that he couldn't keep track of their names.

My friend still chuckles as he tells of the look on the face of his wife of over half a century when he told her knew his co-worker's name perfectly well but had been completely unable to remember hers.