Tuesday, June 21, 2011

25

This post is coming pretty late tonight, so hopefully it will get posted before midnight! We had some pretty strong storms blow through tonight, which included some short power outages. But all is good.

Today my parents celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, and I am so proud! They were married June 21, 1986, and what a time it has been so far. I was an early development in this marriage, coming only nine months later! (I guess that makes me a honeymoon surprise!) My brother came along three years after I did, and we remain a family of four. There have been lots of ups and downs, but obviously the ups have outweighed the downs, or we wouldn't be all together right now.

I have been so blessed to witness what it is like to have married parents for all of my life. I can count only a few of my friends whose parents are still married to each other; I guess that's just a sign of the times, but it's still kind of sad. Obviously married people are going to fight and have problems, but you don't stay together for 25 years if you don't know how to resolve conflicts. I can attest to the fact that this has been a key to my parents' marriage, built on a foundation of trust and unconditional love.

I feel doubly blessed to have a set of grandparents who have been married for close to 60 years, which is truly remarkable! Both sets of couples have shown me great examples of what good marriages are like, and as a product of those marriages, I can honestly feel the love they bestow both on each other and their families. I do paint a pretty flowery picture of marriage, which I know isn't true of all marriages. It also isn't true of the good marriages all the time, as I'm sure my married readers will agree. But what does make a good marriage is being able to overcome the odds together, to make compromises, and just stick it through together. Both my grandparents and my parents have shown that they have what it takes to make good marriages last, and for that I am so blessed.

So the main point I wanted to make with this blog post is to wish my parents a Very Happy 25th Anniversary. I am so happy to be a part of this family, and I thank God every day for each and every person who is a part of it. I hope that 25 years from now I can post about my parents' 50th anniversary, and be even more proud!

3 comments:

Adrienne said...

Happy Anniversary!

I remember it as being a beautiful wedding

John Beauregard said...

Tomorrow is our 49th wedding anniversary. I find your view of marriage is a little too negative based on my experience. I don't recall having to resolve many conflicts over the last 49 years. The success of our marriage is primarily the result of serving each other beyond expectations. We try to do as much for the other as practical to please them. I must admit that I feel I usually receive more than I give.

This discussion reminds me of one of my favorite jokes. Exit here if you don't like jokes.

An old couple held a large party to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. In attendance were their 12 kids, 53 grand kids and 141 great grand kids. A newspaper reporter covering the event asks the secret to their successful marriage. The old man replies: “Well, before we married we agreed that I would make all the BIG decisions and she would make all the small decisions.” Reporter: “Wow, that’s very enlightening. What are some of the big decisions you've made?” Old Man: “Well, so far we haven’t had any big decisions.”

Anonymous said...

GREAT joke!! I agree, about not having to resolve too many conflicts. Of course, we've only been married for 8 years but, in that time we've been Very happy. It's been easy and fun!