50

December is a month chock full of significant events for my family. Most importantly, we celebrate Christ's birth on the 25th and that really goes without saying. We also celebrate CAL's birthday, and three wedding anniversaries - ours and my parents and Jill and Wes, who celebrate seven years this year. This December is of particular note - CAL turns 16, the stunningly patient Shari and I mark 20 years of marriage, but my parents take the prize - today, 23 December, they celebrate 50 years of marriage.

Can you even stand that? 50 years! I tried doing a little research on Google and Wikipedia to see what's the percentage of marriages that last fifty years and the answers were pretty consistent - close to zero. Nice, huh? I'm sure that part of that is attributable to the fact that people die before they make it to fifty years, but the sad truth, is that most marriages break up long before they even get close to a number as high as fifty.

So tonight as I write this post, I can't help but honor my parents. They've certainly beaten the odds as it were, as if that were ever a question with these two. I have never met a couple more devoted to one another. My father treats my mother with such caring and respect and he always has - I cannot recall him ever uttering a cross word or even a sideways glance of frustration with my mom. And my mom has simply always adored my dad. They've gone all over the world together, mostly in the service of their Father in Heaven and they've had some pretty amazing experiences. They've blessed the lives of so, so many. But selfishly, I'm glad that they've blessed my life and the lives of my brother and sister. I know that the three of us have challenged my parents far more than they deserved. I am forever grateful for their collective patience with their three children. And I'm glad that last month we could all gather and be together as a family. We have not gotten together for a very long time and a picture like this doesn't happen very often:

The three of us, my brother Rich and my sister Suzanne, together on Thanksgiving thanks to my parents

As I will shortly celebrate twenty years of marriage with my wife, I look to my parents' example and realize that, as usual, I am falling short. But I know I am looking forward to learning day-by-day from my parents ongoing example of love and dedication - I am looking forward to growing old (well, older, because the way my eyes are screaming for bifocals, I'm old now) with Shari.

I look at my mom and dad now and realize that there really is no appropriate gift that I can give them for this anniversary. They've made it clear that they have all the material possessions that they could ever want, but I hope to find something. I guess the best that I can do is to really live up to and honor the legacy that they've created. I've been blessed to be their first-born child.

Thank you, Mom and Dad - it seems wildly insufficient as I ponder all that you've done for me and my family and for all that you've done for so many other people over the years - but thank you and congratulations on this most special of days.