My beloved Mom and Pop always rated tops with each other, and that’s the way it will always be.

In plainspoken, affectionate language, Merman frames her parents’ relationship as a lifelong standard of devotion: they “rated tops” with each other—each placing the other first. The second clause (“and that’s the way it will always be”) shifts from description to vow, suggesting that the speaker’s memory and valuation of that bond is permanent, surviving time, change, and even death. The quote’s significance lies in its emphasis on mutual regard rather than idealized romance: love is measured by priority, loyalty, and everyday esteem. It also reads as a quiet rebuttal to celebrity narratives of instability, holding up a private model of enduring partnership as the truest benchmark.