Fifty one
22/06/24 01:02
According to the website of Hallmark greeting cards, the theme of a 51st wedding anniversary is photos/cameras. I was thinking of family photographs before I looked up the list of traditional anniversary gifts because as part of the celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary a year ago we had a friend who is a professional photographer take pictures of our family. There are several prints of the photos taken last year on the wall in our family room. Another photo on that wall, though not taken by our professional photographer friend, is a picture of our five grandchildren lying on the floor with their heads together fanned out in a circle. That pose has been a tradition that began when our fourth grandchild was a baby, I asked our children to be sure to take a picture each time all of our grandchildren are together. When that first picture was taken, we lived in South Dakota. We had three grandchildren in Washington and our fourth lived in Japan. When the four were together we couldn’t be with them so getting pictures was important to me. I loved that picture so much that it has become a tradition to get a picture of our grandchildren lying on their backs on the floor each time they are together. Last year’s picture seems a bit dated. The children change so quickly.
In just over a week, we will have all of our grandchildren together when our daughter and grandson come from South Carolina for a visit. You can be sure that getting a picture will be one of my priorities for the visit. And the new photo will take its place in the frame on our family room wall which now has several layers of photos of grandchildren.
And, although today is the actual day of our 51st wedding anniversary, after 51 years we’ve learned that the celebration doesn’t have to be on the exact day. Last year we celebrated a week early because our daughter’s husband’s parents’ anniversary is the day after ours and they wanted to have their family at both celebrations. By having our celebration a week early we allowed for a more leisurely pace for their travels with our celebration in Washington state and theirs in Washington, DC.
Round numbers, especially even decades, seem to get more attention than other anniversaries. Planning a big party for our 50th seemed important. Somehow 50 is a significant milestone. We had a fun family gathering for our 40th anniversary. But we haven’t made too big of a deal about other anniversaries, usually celebrating by a dinner out and some special time to express our gratitude to each other.
On this, our 51st anniversary, I am filled with gratitude. We have been granted more years of marriage and friendship than many other couples get. There is deep joy in waking up next to my best friend. We’ve been through enough to know that life is fragile and that we have been very lucky in life and health and family.
In some ways, I don’t have much to say about 51 years except that they have been good. I feel like the most fortunate person in the world.
For those interested in numerology, I will note that 51 is three times 17.
Back in 1990 when we had been married 17 years, we were half way through our decade of living in Boise, Idaho. I was focused on the upcoming waterspouts camp for high school youth that was coming. There were sail boats and wind surf boards and canoes to line up and get ready. There were plans for a river raft trip that had to be finalized. I was still recruiting staff for the camp. It took a lot of volunteers including water safety and boating instructors, an EMT certified to teach CPR, a chaplain, cabin counselors, arts and music leaders and more. Our children at 6 and 9 weren’t yet old enough for that camp, but camping was definitely on our agenda for the summer.
In 2007, when we had been married two times seventeen years, we had been serving the congregation in Rapid City for 12 years, matching the longest pastorate in the history of the church. Our children were 23 and 26 and we were planning a trip to Hartford, Connecticut for the 50th anniversary synod of the United Church of Christ. The meeting was quite a celebration. One member of our church, Barak Obama, was running for President of the United States and addressed the Synod. We also heard speeches by Bill Moyers, a UCC member who was a White House Press Secretary and UCC member Charles Townes, one of the inventors of the laser. We drove from Rapid City to that meeting which got our camper to the northeast where we were able to vacation after the synod, driving north to New Brunswick after visiting friends in New Hampshire and Maine. Then we drove back home across Canada camping all the way.
And now we have been married for three times seventeen years. We don’t have any big trips on the horizon for this year, but are planning to travel to South Carolina in the fall.
Today will be pretty low key for us. Our son and four of our grandchildren will be coming to our house for dinner this evening. We’ll have our anniversary dinner one day next week. We’ve even reached the age where we may have our special dinner as a special lunch. We haven’t got all of our plans in place yet. Getting ready for our daughter and grandson to visit will be high on our agenda for the next week.
Still, fifty one years is worthy of recognition and celebration. When we were first married, I was not able to envision what 51 years would feel like. I know I had no idea how quickly the years would pass. What I did know is that I was deeply in love with Susan and ready to make a lifelong commitment of that love. It was the right commitment for us to make. The promises of that day have been central to our lives. How fortunate we are to have made them.
In just over a week, we will have all of our grandchildren together when our daughter and grandson come from South Carolina for a visit. You can be sure that getting a picture will be one of my priorities for the visit. And the new photo will take its place in the frame on our family room wall which now has several layers of photos of grandchildren.
And, although today is the actual day of our 51st wedding anniversary, after 51 years we’ve learned that the celebration doesn’t have to be on the exact day. Last year we celebrated a week early because our daughter’s husband’s parents’ anniversary is the day after ours and they wanted to have their family at both celebrations. By having our celebration a week early we allowed for a more leisurely pace for their travels with our celebration in Washington state and theirs in Washington, DC.
Round numbers, especially even decades, seem to get more attention than other anniversaries. Planning a big party for our 50th seemed important. Somehow 50 is a significant milestone. We had a fun family gathering for our 40th anniversary. But we haven’t made too big of a deal about other anniversaries, usually celebrating by a dinner out and some special time to express our gratitude to each other.
On this, our 51st anniversary, I am filled with gratitude. We have been granted more years of marriage and friendship than many other couples get. There is deep joy in waking up next to my best friend. We’ve been through enough to know that life is fragile and that we have been very lucky in life and health and family.
In some ways, I don’t have much to say about 51 years except that they have been good. I feel like the most fortunate person in the world.
For those interested in numerology, I will note that 51 is three times 17.
Back in 1990 when we had been married 17 years, we were half way through our decade of living in Boise, Idaho. I was focused on the upcoming waterspouts camp for high school youth that was coming. There were sail boats and wind surf boards and canoes to line up and get ready. There were plans for a river raft trip that had to be finalized. I was still recruiting staff for the camp. It took a lot of volunteers including water safety and boating instructors, an EMT certified to teach CPR, a chaplain, cabin counselors, arts and music leaders and more. Our children at 6 and 9 weren’t yet old enough for that camp, but camping was definitely on our agenda for the summer.
In 2007, when we had been married two times seventeen years, we had been serving the congregation in Rapid City for 12 years, matching the longest pastorate in the history of the church. Our children were 23 and 26 and we were planning a trip to Hartford, Connecticut for the 50th anniversary synod of the United Church of Christ. The meeting was quite a celebration. One member of our church, Barak Obama, was running for President of the United States and addressed the Synod. We also heard speeches by Bill Moyers, a UCC member who was a White House Press Secretary and UCC member Charles Townes, one of the inventors of the laser. We drove from Rapid City to that meeting which got our camper to the northeast where we were able to vacation after the synod, driving north to New Brunswick after visiting friends in New Hampshire and Maine. Then we drove back home across Canada camping all the way.
And now we have been married for three times seventeen years. We don’t have any big trips on the horizon for this year, but are planning to travel to South Carolina in the fall.
Today will be pretty low key for us. Our son and four of our grandchildren will be coming to our house for dinner this evening. We’ll have our anniversary dinner one day next week. We’ve even reached the age where we may have our special dinner as a special lunch. We haven’t got all of our plans in place yet. Getting ready for our daughter and grandson to visit will be high on our agenda for the next week.
Still, fifty one years is worthy of recognition and celebration. When we were first married, I was not able to envision what 51 years would feel like. I know I had no idea how quickly the years would pass. What I did know is that I was deeply in love with Susan and ready to make a lifelong commitment of that love. It was the right commitment for us to make. The promises of that day have been central to our lives. How fortunate we are to have made them.
