A Thankful, Precious Celebration

As you read this post I am with my parents, celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. It is truly a joyous occasion because they love each other more today than they did on their wedding day 60 years ago. I watch them at times and they are in totally sync. They think alike, they move at the same time to do the same thing, they laugh at the same moment...I'm convinced they read each others minds. I have attempted a few breathless times to imagine one of them without the other and I simply can't. For now, I am celebrating having two wonderful parents who have stayed together through joy and hardship to build a legacy of love for all of us who watch in awe. I include some pictures of Mom and Dad on their wedding day and some more in the present, still sweethearts.

This precious picture is Mom and Dad on their wedding day. Didn't she look beautiful in her lovely satin gown? The dress still rests in tissue paper along with Mother's veil and satin shoes. I am one of three sisters and I have one daughter. Before each of us married mother brought out her precious wedding gown and carefully unwrapped it from it's protective layers. She helped each prospective bride into her gown and buttoned the million satin covered buttons up the back - as far as they would close! As it turns out not one of us could fit into her 20 inch waist! Mother enjoyed that immensely! Both Mom and Dad still remember every detail of their day, right down to the the little tear in the waist of Mothers dress. As they ran from the church among fluttering rice Daddy stepped on the hem. The moment was caught and rests in their wedding photo album, both of them looking at each other, laughing and not caring about anything but their love for one another. I have never known a man to love a woman more than my father loves my mother. And, oh, look at that sweet little cake! The bride and groom atop it in the photograph is in a box in their home today. The reception was held in my grandparents home. I've posted before about my memories of the elegant home with gorgeous furniture, linens, and crystal. I don't know if you can see it clearly enough in the picture or not, but just above the wedding cake and to my mom's right there is mirror hanging over a dining buffet table. That mirror now hangs in my parents home over their dining buffet.

Here Mom and Dad are with my grandchildren, December 2007.

Dad, a nature lover, sitting by one of his beloved mountain streams. I cherish my father for the gentle and kind man of God he is.

Mom and Dad, March 2008. We had such a lovely day with them, walking along some of the beautiful pathways in the Smoky Mountains.

I think I shall close my post now and schedule its delivery before I melt into a heap of tears just thinking about the fairy tale my parents are!