The Party That Wasn't
Today would have been my parents' 50th anniversary.
My mother died after 30 years of marriage (she actually died in June, but no one objects to my dad claiming the extra three months), and at the end of next month my dad and my step-mom will celebrate 19 happy years of marriage. So life goes on.
Two weeks ago we were all together having a wonderful celebration of my step-mom's 70th birthday, but I hope I can be forgiven thinking wistfully that the big party should have been today. Not that it wasn't fun doing another college visit with my son, but I wish there could have been somewhere else we should have been.
My mother gave my father a gold Patek Phillipe watch that day, engraved:
With all my love, Always
September 16, 1956
He sent us an email telling us about his feelings reading that inscription today; musing (tearfully at times) about their 30 years and five children together; the eight grandchildren she never knew, and how much he still cherishes all the memories.
I also spoke to him on the phone. He told me that after a meeting at his club today, he came across a wedding reception in progress. He cornered the bride and groom and showed them the engraving on the back of his watch as he explained that he was married fifty years ago today. He wished them as much happiness as he had shared with my mother. And he asked a favor of them: that on their golden anniversary, September 16th, 2056, they also seek out a couple on their wedding day and pass the blessing on.
posted by #1 Dinosaur @ 8:22 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Beautiful post. Thank you for sharing.
Strong sniff. A lovely testament to both marriages.
Regards - Shinga
That's beautiful. Really beautiful.
Your dad sounds like a great guy -- and I sincerely hope that couple has the chance to do as he asked.
It brought a tear to my eye.
One of the reasons is that a couple of weeks ago my dad buried his second wife, my step mother. They were married for almost 35 years.
My mother died before they had their 20th anniversary.
They are both missed deeply.
And I wish MY dad would learn to use email!
hcn: *hugs*
And you should know that my dad is a curious cross between techie and Luddite: although he uses email, he still prints them all out "just so he has a copy."
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