50th Wedding Anniversary today . . . where did the time go?
Today, my wonderful wife and I are celebrating our 50th Wedding Anniversary . . . . and as I look back, I have to wonder where the time went. We got married while we were still in college and we began our adventure in Married Housing. We both were taking a full load of classes, I was working sometimes two jobs and we ate a lot of soup and hamburger helper, but it was fantastic!
We returned to my hometown after graduating from college, my wife ended up teaching over 30 years in the local district and I was self-employed. We never had kids but we have always had dogs along with a couple of cats along the way that brought much joy to our house and still do. Like all couples, we had "lean times", but we never lost the ability to laugh and know that tomorrow would be a better day.
When I look at my "bride" today, I still see the beautiful girl I fell in love with and I have never lost that feeling. Like all couples, we have had "bad times" as well . . . . the total of 23 years in helping to care for parents as they became ill and the loss of each of them but we faced those things as a "team" and somehow managed to get through those times.
Marriage is not something that a person should ever take for granted. It is something that has to be worked at each and every day. Success comes through the love and respect that each partner has for the other and putting the other before yourself. Of course there are ups and downs along the way but nothing that cannot be overcome if the two of you have that love and respect for each other.
We have no great plans for the day, but we are going to go for a drive and out to lunch at a nice restaurant that we have heard a lot about but never have tried. But, we don't need a big celebration - we have each other and every day that I am able to wake up and sit across fron my beloved wife, is a day that I treasure. Yea . . . 50 years today and I don't know where the time has gone, but if there were just one thing that i could wish for that would come true, it would be that I could have another 50 years with my wonderful wife that I was blessed with. I know that that wish won't come true, but every minute that we have together is treasured more than anything else and just that is worth living each day to the fullest. My congratulations go out to everyone else who have been as lucky as I have been.
