Hitting That Mark

Last week, my husband and I reached a marital milestone – no, not any of the traditional ones – we long ago blew past twenty-five and haven’t quite made fifty. We reached the magical 44th. You see, we were married on my in-laws 44th wedding anniversary.

When we told his parents that we planned to get married and the date we’d chosen, his mom immediately said, “You don’t want to get married that day.” I momentarily panicked, wondering what family tragedy had occurred on the day that my husband either didn’t know about or didn’t remember. Then she added, “That’s our anniversary. Don’t you want your own day?” I told her I thought that day would be good luck if she didn’t mind sharing it with us. She said she was fine with it, and I think she really was. My soon-to-be husband hadn’t remembered his parents’ wedding anniversary…that never happened again!

It was a popular week to marry in his family, his sister and brother and a niece had all married on nearby dates. More of the family who came after us gravitated to that general timeframe as well.

We were blessed to celebrate our joint anniversary through our 27th one. A majority of those we made a point to celebrate together, with rare exceptions when we were too far away to be there on our day. Frequently, we had big family gatherings celebrating all the wedded bliss in the time period.

Often, Mom and Dad would have a mini adventure planned to some nearby sight they’d read about in the Sunday paper local attractions write up or that they’d remembered visiting in years gone by. We wandered in parks and through caves. More than once, we had to turn around when the rutted, one lane, dirt road with names like Turkey Trot or Rattlesnake Ferry or Possum Run, simply ran out or narrowed to a dubious looking cowpath. Remember, this is pre-GPS. We ate all kinds of food. We visited museums, monasteries, and gardens. We shopped. We made the most of our celebration time together

My parents never stayed together 44 years. I’m glad we were able to follow my in-laws’ example so we could hit that mark.