Forty Forty-one years ago today my parents got married. And they beat the odds and have STAYED married all that time. Was it a perfect marriage? Nah – no marriage is. But after a lot of hard work and hard times here they are now having the time of theirs lives together.
Things I remember about my parents’ marriage (and yes, family, while I’m sure the minute details are incorrect, the gist of the story is true):
1. One time they were arguing (no doubt about something stupid) in another room while either my sister or I was in the bathtub. My dad got so mad he even scared the dog – who jumped into the tub when the argument got really loud.
2. For a long time my dad brought home a single stem flower to give to my mom. I think he did it once a week for a year – possibly longer? I honestly don’t remember, but I do remember those flowers and their regularity.
3. Back in the early-80s my mom was a color consultant (you know – dressing according to whether you are spring, summer, winter, autumn). I remember my dad never considered it a real “job” although my mother did and basically told him to keep his opinions to himself in that regard. In a much nicer way, of course.
4. My dad was in the Navy throughout my childhood and would be gone for months at a time on a ship in the Indian Ocean. But when he would come home from a cruise we’d go meet him at the homecoming and they would just hug and kiss and hug and kiss in their excitement to be together again – even if it was just for a few weeks before he had to head out again.
5. Family Vacation by car to Disneyland in California. It would always begin with a single question, “Where do you want to stop for dinner?” and it would devolve from there into a shouting match in which my mother refused to name a location, claiming she didn’t care, and my dad, also claiming not to care, demanded SOME sort of recommendation. Good times.
6. They still hold hands.
Happy anniversary!
Thank you for the well-wishes! Uh-hem, it’s 41 years. You only mentioned the testy stuff!! What’s up with that?! How ’bout when Dad and I were upstairs… smooching (really)… and the dog was going crazy barking (he was known for going nuts when we made physical contact) and Jen yelled up the stairs, “Cut it out, you two, we know what you’re doing!” Spanky, the cat, is clueless. 🙂
It’s not 41. It’s 40. *does the math*…Oh yeah. Heh. 41!!!
And I alternated good with bad to show that you have a real marriage.
Story #1 is absolutely true. Poor Buc didn’t know what to do. I think Dad was looking for his pen, but somehow that involved a lot of shouting.
Story #5 made me LOL. You know it’s going to be a good vacation when it starts with the broken side mirror on the borrowed van (done backing out of the garage) and then Mom crying before we’re two blocks from the house because Dad said we had to turn back to wait for the dishwasher to finish running (Mom started it before we headed out). The disputes over meals are legendary and continue in the family today.
Good times indeed.
Heh. I had forgotten about the side mirror and dishwasher. That was an AWESOME vacation.
If arguments and broken mirrors are all it takes to start a good vacation, we’ve had the some of the best ones in the world.
And I think Jaynee is fishing for flowers every week.
Oh, that wasn’t the only thing broken on that vacation ~ TheInfamousSanDiegoZooGiftShopFiasco comes to mind… 🙂 And the seagull that pooped on me as soon as we entered the front gate.
They do make a very cute couple. Congrats to them and the entire family. Jane, you are very lucky to have them as parents.
Ooohhh…was that Disney trip the same one as the gift shop thing? Wow…that was some vacation and deserves a post of it’s own even though it happened over 25 years ago.
That vacation is legendary for a number of reasons – the first being that it was the first true vacation we took as a family. And I love that while so many terrible things happened we all remember it as being awesome.