For the accompanying photos, go to: Here

I love to see my children together, enjoying themselves and each other. I saw a lot of that this past weekend. While every parent can look at their child and imagine a different (and of course improved!) set of circumstances, I am quite pleased with where they are right now. They seem to be enjoying their lives, their loves, and their jobs. I'll not dig too much deeper than that. But they were laughing and joking every time I saw them, at ease with themselves and their extended family. I cannot say how they appeared to other; all I can say is that I was pleased. They are nice people, and I am proud of what they are accomplishing.

The time with my sisters was quite pleasant. We see each other infrequently. My younger sister Julie came down for our anniversary in May, but her total time here was only about 8 hours. And my other sister, Susan, has shared two afternoons with us in the past few years. So, we ve not been much together. Though when we are together, it is often the time for a dreadful photo of the three of us, and I suspect there's one (or more) of those to look forward to.

Soon after arrival, I shared the secret slide show, and they made some good suggestions. They did not really understand what I had in mind when we discussed it. Showing them allowed them to rest easier, and for me to get some ideas about possible problems and requirements. That night I edited the times for each slide, allowing much more for the ones that seemed to generate the greatest discussion, though it turned out many many many of the pictures could have used a little more time.

We tried to play some board games, but I am not that much of a game player, and these both left me cold. So I joined the non-players who were watching Seabiscuit, and found myself quite moved. They did a fine job telling a simple story, and we were all cheering him on. When someone wondered if he would win the big race, I replied If he had lost, they wouldn't have made the movie." He did win. But we were roused anyway, so roused in fact that both parents were still awake when the film ended! And it was past 10:00!

Cindy and I spent the night at a Sleep Inn, fifteen minutes away, courtesy of the free night my mother accumulated in her travels. It was quite pleasant; though not a great room, it was better than the hide-a-bed we would have had at their house. We equally enjoyed a quiet and slow morning at their continental breakfast and moseyed over to headquarters. But before departing, we decided to re-enlist for another night at the motel, though we had a room at the townhouse my mother booked for the children. But we thought they'd enjoy it more if we weren't there.. .no need for parents hovering around supervising. And Cyrus would get his own room as well.

Friday began on a very down note. My dad had to attend a memorial service for a friend. My father volunteers teaching flag etiquette in the schools, and this fellow was one of his partners. Sudden, abrupt and completely unexpected, January 2 began grimly. But the specter of death dampened but did not douse our mood. We enjoyed the arrival of our children, ate a jovial lunch and went back to the motel to get dressed.

We piled into 3 cars (Julie and clan had left earlier to allow Emily some practice time on the piano) and managed to get to the lodge at almost precisely the anticipated time. Though the morning had begun overcast and gloomy, by afternoon we were enjoying a beautiful spring day. Warm, sunny, with wonderful views in all directions. Many photos were taken, much posing and laughing, and then we loaded up to head down to hill to the chapel.

The best thing to say about the ceremony is that it didn't look quite as unrehearsed as it was. I hope we do a better job this April 17. But the appropriate words were spoken, the sentiments expressed were sincere, and I found myself incredibly pleased and honored to be a part of a 50th anniversary. 24 more years for mine, and as I said to Eanna, she will be celebrating her 50th in the year my parents would be celebrating their 100th, though few marriages make it quite that far. But I'll only be 99, and I intend to be at the party. After all, we'll have just had our 75th.

The party was indeed fun. We ate around a large table, and though we had to focus on those near us, we could shout over to those across the way. And the slide show seemed to be a big success. Help from old friends and family, and a cache of unexamined photos allowed me to show many images unseen in years, or never seen before. Everyone laughed at how young the couple was back in 1954, but it was Eisenhower's first term. So considering how Ike is doing these days, I think they're in pretty good shape. One of the consistent themes throughout the photos was a lack of smiles. All somber serious faces glaring at the camera as if they were sitting for a three minute exposure. But they weren't. The lodge provided a bottle of champagne, and everyone toasted the happy couple. As remarked many times that night, the splendor of the surroundings went a way to compensate for Moser's Cafe, home of the 1954 party.

After the slides they opened some presents, laughed some more, had dessert and headed on home. The caravan made it safely back and we opened the mound of cards, all the while Mom exclaiming "How did you find her?" "Oh my...how did you locate them?" We felt truly blessed to be celebrating such a joyous event. Fifty is indeed pretty amazing.