Fifty Years Ago Today
Today is the anniversary of my parents' wedding. My entire life, I've had to explain that they chose this day (typically known as April Fool's Day here) to be married because it was the first day of my Dad's Spring Break from college. They had an entire week for a honeymoon before he needed to get back to school. Mom was already working, and she could have a vacation as well. So, April 1, 1967 was the day.
My mother's mom traveled from Springfield, Pennsylvania with my mother's best friend for the wedding. The entire way across the country to Lawrence, Kansas, my grandmother thought that she would find the entire thing to be a joke. I know she knew better, but the thought kept going around and around in her mind. She was the only one who could afford to make the trip, so Mom had a surrogate father walk her down the aisle to my Dad.
Mom and Dad ended up having two wedding receptions - one with Dad's family and one with Mom's family. In between the two receptions, they drove across the country. Then, they drove back again.
Several years before my Mom's Mom died, I had the chance to visit her after an AMTA conference. During that visit, I looked through her photographs and found pictures of my Mom and Dad during the reception in PA. I had never seen those pictures before. It was amazing to see things from that point of view rather than the pictures that were my experience - the other reception in KS. I had always heard about the other reception, but had never seen any proof of that experience. The pictures were wonderful to see. I wonder where they are now. I would love to have copies.
Fifty years ago today, my family started. The two families that had been part of my parents' lives were joined into my family. Our family has expanded a bit, but not much. My nephews are the extensions of what used to just ours but now is part of theirs.
I hope that my parents continue the tradition of love, honesty, and day-to-day commitment for many more years to come.
(Really, it's completely true!)
My mother's mom traveled from Springfield, Pennsylvania with my mother's best friend for the wedding. The entire way across the country to Lawrence, Kansas, my grandmother thought that she would find the entire thing to be a joke. I know she knew better, but the thought kept going around and around in her mind. She was the only one who could afford to make the trip, so Mom had a surrogate father walk her down the aisle to my Dad.
Mom and Dad ended up having two wedding receptions - one with Dad's family and one with Mom's family. In between the two receptions, they drove across the country. Then, they drove back again.
Several years before my Mom's Mom died, I had the chance to visit her after an AMTA conference. During that visit, I looked through her photographs and found pictures of my Mom and Dad during the reception in PA. I had never seen those pictures before. It was amazing to see things from that point of view rather than the pictures that were my experience - the other reception in KS. I had always heard about the other reception, but had never seen any proof of that experience. The pictures were wonderful to see. I wonder where they are now. I would love to have copies.
Fifty years ago today, my family started. The two families that had been part of my parents' lives were joined into my family. Our family has expanded a bit, but not much. My nephews are the extensions of what used to just ours but now is part of theirs.
I hope that my parents continue the tradition of love, honesty, and day-to-day commitment for many more years to come.
(Really, it's completely true!)
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