Happy 45th Wedding Anniversary!

My parents will celebrate 45 years of marriage tomorrow, July 14. They were married in 1962.

Think about that for a minute.

Forty-five years. For those of us who are married, have been married, or plan to be married sometime soon, that kind of relationship is something we all want. When you make the commitment to be together, you are together for the rest of your days. They have seen their share of heartache and disappointment. They’ve been through the better and the worse and they have always had one constant during the good times and the bad; they’ve had each other.

For the last 45 years those two young kids in the picture above had four kids of their own. They built a strong family, a wonderful home-life, and taught those four kids the meaning of the words strength and love. They had (and still have) great careers, incredible commitment to their community, and an uncanny ability to make each other laugh like newlyweds who share an inside joke that the rest of us just wouldn’t understand.

They make it look easy; I don’t think there is any other way to say it.

I am the youngest of those four kids and I was born right around the time my parents were in their early 30’s. I am just starting a family now at 33 and I am terrified. I am scared of screwing up, of not being a good dad, of not being a good husband – basically of not knowing what to do when I don’t know what to do.

But now I realize I just need to follow the example they set and I won’t have any problems. They did all the hard work for me, now I just need to put the wheels in motion and teach my kids like they taught us.

My parents probably don’t hear it enough (what parents do) but I want them to know that I am proud of them. I am proud of their marriage, proud of the milestone and all of the love and work that went into it -- but mostly I am just proud to call them my mom and dad. I couldn’t have asked for anything more than what they gave me.

Not one of those four kids could.

Happy Anniversary.