A few weeks ago, my Dad mentioned to me that he'd like to surprise my Mom with a party for their 40
th wedding anniversary. His idea was to renew their vows, then have a nice meal. I called my sister Briana and we started planning. We thought we could have the ceremony in my parents' backyard, but the morning of the party it was pouring rain. Briana offered to host the party at her house, which turned out to be the perfect thing. Briana's house is huge and beautiful and difficult to fill with furniture, which worked in our favor since we had 40 chairs, four banquet tables and about 35 bodies to
accommodate. Briana's mother-in-law made the cake and my niece Briana made the cake topper, a replica of the log cabin my Dad built with little dolls of my parents in front. My brothers Kevin and Sandor played
Pachelbel for the procession, each grandchild carrying a long-stemmed white rose to put in a vase before Damien gave my Mom away. The priest who officiated was Father
Deo Gratias(Latin for "Thanks be to God"). The whole thing came off pretty much flawlessly, and it was all I could do not to high-five Briana the whole time. I put together a wedding scrapbook for my parents, who were 18 and 23 when they got married. Knowing what lay ahead over the course of the next 40 years, it was hard not to weep when I saw my parents' young faces. I was glad no one could tell that 18 year-old bride what suffering lay ahead; that she would bury three of her children; a third of her children would divorce; one would be born with an auto-immune disease. What was so beautiful about their anniversary was that they know now all the struggles that would come their way but the joy outweighs the sorrow, they still love each other, still say "I do."
My parents' wedding day.
My parents' original toasting glasses from their wedding.
A few weeks ago, my Dad mentioned to me that he'd like to surprise my Mom with a party for their 40th wedding anniversary. His idea was to renew their vows, then have a nice meal. I called my sister Briana and we started planning. We thought we could have the ceremony in my parents' backyard, but the morning of the party it was pouring rain. Briana offered to host the party at her house, which turned out to be the perfect thing. Briana's house is huge and beautiful and difficult to fill with furniture, which worked in our favor since we had 40 chairs, four banquet tables and about 35 bodies to accommodate. Briana's mother-in-law made the cake and my niece Briana made the cake topper, a replica of the log cabin my Dad built with little dolls of my parents in front. My brothers Kevin and Sandor played Pachelbel for the procession, each grandchild carrying a long-stemmed white rose to put in a vase before Damien gave my Mom away. The priest who officiated was Father Deo Gratias(Latin for "Thanks be to God"). The whole thing came off pretty much flawlessly, and it was all I could do not to high-five Briana the whole time. I put together a wedding scrapbook for my parents, who were 18 and 23 when they got married. Knowing what lay ahead over the course of the next 40 years, it was hard not to weep when I saw my parents' young faces. I was glad no one could tell that 18 year-old bride what suffering lay ahead; that she would bury three of her children; a third of her children would divorce; one would be born with an auto-immune disease. What was so beautiful about their anniversary was that they know now all the struggles that would come their way but the joy outweighs the sorrow, they still love each other, still say "I do." 
1 comment:
You "to-yee" left out that one of their children would have small eyes, kind of close together.
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