On April 8, 1961 my parents took vows that both have honored for half a century.
I'm so grateful for their legacy.
It was not always an easy fifty years.
During those fifty years, they have walked through every bit of those vows. They loved each other
better and worse
richer and poorer
in sickness and in health
The beautiful message of their life together is not that their commitment allowed them to endure all those things.
No, the beauty of my father's words, "I made a commitment to LOVE this woman," is that he knew to what he was committing.
Not to merely endure,
not to simply hang in there,
but to LOVE
regardless of the circumstances.
even when it was hard
even when things happened that would have torn a less committed couple apart.
My parents were not content to just persevere; they strove to LOVE.
Because of that commitment, fifty years later they still stir one another.
(Let me tell you, that was no geriatric kiss they shared after my father's speech.)
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how it's done.
We have been shown how it's done haven't we? :)
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