30th Wedding Anniversary

Tomorrow, the 19th, is my parents' thirtieth wedding anniversary.  In my family we always make a celebration out of wedding anniversaries.  Each year deserves to be honored and recognized and I do believe that it is appropriate for close friends and family to celebrate with the happy couple.  A marriage is, naturally, primarily between two people but I do think that the encouragement and counsel of others is what often carries a couple through some of the more difficult times and praise for when a couple has mastered something is often what will spur them forward.

I have spent the last few months trying to think of an appropriate gift for them.  Money is very, very tight.  Time is very, very tight.  But my love and admiration for them is not.  The above is their physical gift.  Originally I was knitting rosebuds to form a bouquet, but I just couldn't get it to look quite right.  Then I had this idea instead-- surround this beautiful wood plaque with five rosebuds.  Two are Mom and Dad and the group of three are Stephanie, Lindsey (aka Rosco) and me.  Of course, there are several more members of our family now (I have added three myself!) but I guess I wanted to acknowledge first and foremost what they created as a couple:  Three girls.  I chose a rosebud because I believe we are all still forming into a mature beautiful flower, and I believe this takes a lifetime to accomplish. 

My parents have seen a lot these last thirty years and I have the utmost respect for the choices they have made, the journeys they have shared, and the love they have shown.  Thank you, Mom and Dad.

Friends

"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Walk beside me and be my friend."
- Albert Camus