50 Years

I’m still reeling from a beautiful long weekend when we got to see all of our grandkids, reminisce, chat with friends and see many relatives. It is hard to believe that we’ve been married 50 years and my eyes got wet numerous times, with joy.

Fifty years ago before we tied the knot, we both spent the better part of a year trying to figure out if we could make a go of it. He had dated a few girls and loved one, I had dated a number of guys, and loved one.

Then one night at college some friends asked me to join them in going to the local skating rink, which was fairly new at the time. I said no, I would stay home and study, but they talked me into it. There, a floor guard who was fairly tall (which I liked) eyed me and then after a few rounds, he observed that I was keeping my knees too stiff. “Bend your legs, and you’ll skate better,” I remember him saying. Some pick up line, huh!

At any rate, that’s how we got started and dated numerous times in April and May the year I was to graduate from college. I would be looking for a job, and applied several places in various states (Pa., Ind., Va.) where I could maybe use some of my skills in writing, and eventually landed a job at Mennonite Broadcasts in Harrisonburg, Va. Stuart was only too happy to drive down to Florida (where I lived for a while with my family) to pick me up. He “carried me back to old Virginia,” so to speak. That was 1975.

I was happy for the ride, but still didn’t know if we would make it as a couple. When we went bowling (which he did weekly), my college self began to experience a different way of life where people were maybe different than I grew up around. I began to feel a calling to go ahead and marry Stuart and live in Virginia where people talked a little differently and lived a little differently than I when I grew up on a farm, went to church three times a week, and gathered eggs (including on Sundays!) to help Mom and Dad. And although Stuart was Lutheran and I was Mennonite, we both worshipped the same God and had most of the same values.

The rest is history—some of it fun and good, some of it middling, and some of it difficult at times.

When our children came along about five years later, the real fun began and I treasure those years, but also love being Grandma and Grandpa now.

I remember when my Mom and Dad had their 50^th anniversary: can it be that I am now as old as they were then, which felt terribly old?

Yes, that’s life and love and I treasure it all—even though we had some difficult times. That’s life too–but the older I get the more precious faith and love have become. Having sisters and brothers and siblings who connect and love each other amid the ups and downs is also an amazing part of our love and life and existence.

Our daughters and their spouses put their heads and hands together and gave us a beautiful and very special celebration, complete with a great lunch, cake, and trimmings that we’ll never forget.

A true celebration, complete with a long lovely kiss!