I usually write about staging, but this week my Parents celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary, so I'm dedicating this column to them.
We have our Family to our house for dinner every Sunday. Since their Anniversary was Monday, we celebrated on Sunday talking about it while we were eating.
My Mom AND Dad were both Marines. At that time, Women Marines worked in offices. They were both stationed in California during WWII. The day they met, it was raining. My Dad was called by my Mom's boss and told to come pick her up and take her back to her barracks, so she didn't have to walk in the rain. They had never met before. My Dad showed up, my Mom got in the jeep and my Dad said "I'm going to marry you someday". She of course told him he was crazy (in a nice way).
So of course you know that they fell in love and wanted to marry. My Mom is from Missouri, but they decided to marry in my Dad's hometown of Hibbing, MN. They didn't have money for a fancy wedding, but my Grandmother told them she would cook a big meal for everyone afterward.
On Sunday, I asked my Dad what they did the day before the wedding. He said "How should I know, that was 63 years ago!". My Mom rolled her eyes and said she remembered……The night before the wedding, my Uncles took my Dad out for a bachelor party. They ended up drinking too much and walking on to a golf course where one of my Uncles tried to crawl in to a golf cup (that's another story for a different day)!! My Aunts took my Mom to a sauna to relax. She really didn't know what a sauna was, and she thought it was a little weird!
The next day, she wore a nice street dress and he wore a suit. They were married and came back to my Grandparents little house for a lot of wonderful food with friends and family. While they didn't have the huge expensive wedding or reception, they were very happy that day.
They stayed in Hibbing for a few years and then moved to Minneapolis. They raised my Sister and I to be honest, caring people. When my Husband Keith and I had our two Son's, they helped raise them too and providing free daycare while we worked. Our Boys are very close to both of them.
Funny, as each Anniversary comes and goes, people often make comments like "wow, that's a long time". My Mom always responds "Yeah, and it's to the same man!" . Then my Dad rolls his eyes.
My Mom turns 88 next week and my Dad will be 86 in September. They made us realize how important family is and have passed that down to our Children as well.
Sundays are very special at our house. We spend a lot of the time talking about "the old days" and other memories. There's a lot of laughter too. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my Parents and am so blessed to still have them in our lives.
We are very excited that were going to have our First Grandchild in February. Sunday dinners will be even more fun and I hope we can instill the importance of Family to this little one, like my Parents did for us.
