Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

March 18th is my parents' sixtieth anniversary. I wish I could be there, but I have to be here instead. I will get my opportunity to congratulate them in person when they come to my daughter's wedding next week.


My parents were married in 1950, when Dad graduated from Georgia Tech on the GI bill. He was a veteran of World War II. she was a southern bell of incomparable beauty. (It's true. I'm not just saying that because she is my mother.) Dad worked as a textile engineer, then became a safety engineer for an insurance company, then as a salesman, and finally as a sales manager and PR representative. Mom stayed home and raised my sister and I while he was on the road.

It's amazing to think what they've seen together--the birth of television, Elvis, Sputnik, civil rights, the Mercury program, man on the moon, a presidential assassination, Woodstock, Watergate, Reagan, the rise of Islam, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the internet, the Millennium, 9-11, and Obama. They have been to England, Spain, Switzerland, Morocco, and most of the US states.

When I was a child, it seemed that we had lived a blessed life. But it has not been easy for my parents. The lived through several major moves. Dad was sometimes on the road for days on end while Mom handled things back home.

When it got older, I realized why my life was easy. Mom and Dad worked hard to make our life safe and happy. Mom and Dad linked their arms above us, giving us the shelter and support we needed to thrive. They bore the burdens that we could not bear, took the pain that we could not endure, and provided the safety we needed to make it in the world.

Joy and I have now been married for thirty-five years. We have tried to follow in my parents' footsteps, providing shelter and support for our girls, as our parents provided it for us.

Have we done as well? Not hardly. There is not a day that I do not ask myself what Dad would do or what Mom would do. I often come up short.

But there is one lesson I learned more than any is this--no matter what happened, the two of them survived and stayed together. Now they have reached sixty years, and love each other as much as they ever did.

So here's to you, Mom and Dad. You are winners in the game of life. You've taught us the meaning of life. God, home family. We never would have made it this far without you. Whatever I have had or done right in life, we owe to both of you. Faithfulness begets faithfulness, courage begets courage, praise begets praise, and joy begets joy. These you have given us these in abundance. I love you, and I hope that the second half of your lives will be as joyful as the first.