Friday, August 5, 2011

Fifty Years of Love

On August 8, 2011, my parents will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Fifty years.

50.

FIFTY!!

Like many from the south, I call my parents Momma and Daddy. I don't know of many southerners that call their parents anything else. I don't know of a southerner that actually has a Mother. We all have momma's. I recall reading a post somewhere that anyone over the age of three that still calls their father 'daddy' should seek therapy immediately because they're too childish to function in the real world. I immediately thought that my entire family would need therapy because every single one of us (and we are legion) call our fathers 'daddy.' My 101 year old grandfather was still called 'Daddy' by his three remaining sons, and they are in their late 60's to 70's.

I reckon it might be a southern thing, but I digress ...

My parents married in 1961. In 1961, 101 Dalmations was the #1 movie, and West Side Story was the #2 movie. Splendor in the Grass and Blue Hawaii rounded out the top seven movies of the year. In January of 1961, JFK was the first president to be sworn in, in a color telecast. The Beach Boys were formed in 1961 and Stand By Me, by Ben E. King was the biggest hit single of the year ... and who could forget Patsy Cline with 'I Fall to Pieces' and 'Crazy.' John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps and Pampers introduced the first disposable diapers, Alan Shepard made the first space flight and Niagra Falls started producing hydroelectric power.

Put into that kind of perspective, fifty years is full of amazing, wonderful things that filled the world with great cinema, some of the best music that has lasted half a century, and that, unbeknownst to them, marked the end of an era to come ... because in July, 2011, NASA flew it's final space shuttle mission - the program that Alan Shepard's flight helped to launch and continue for fifty years.

But how do you conceive of fifty years of love? How can one possibly even begin to understand what fifty years of love looks like or feels like? The fact that, considering the inattentive population of today, two people are still married after fifty years ... well, that's a miracle. And I happen to be a front-row witness to it.

So, to my parents, I wish you a happy anniversary, and I thank you for giving me that miracle.

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