Happy Anniversary to the Fabulous Fergusons

What do you say to two people who have been married for thirty years?!?!  

"Congratulations." "Way to go!"  "How did you do it?"  "Why?!"  "What is the secret?" "What is wrong with you?"  "Is that in dog years?"  "Happy Anniversary!"

 

No matter what you say, there is an underlying connotation in your comment…there just is.  What you say or ask can reveal your perception about marriage and anniversaries (if not the couple's relationship).

Today, my mom and step dad have been married 30 years!  To them, I want to express gratitude and appreciation, as well as tell them "Happy Anniversary." 

Honestly ~ if it weren’t for them, I would have NO faith that I can find “the guy” for lil’ ol’ me!  Through the decades, I have seen them do a few things I hope to model in my relationships (just to list a few):

• Taking weekend trips just for them.
  
• Taking things off line, talking them through, and coming up with a “Donna and Fergy” decision versus a solo decision.
  
• Recognizing, understanding, and unconditionally loving each other in spite of human foibles.
  
• Leveraging each other’s strengths, being better as a sum versus individuals.
  
• Laugh, laugh, and laugh!
  
• Allowing the other one to be who and what they are and loving them in spite of the good, bad, and the ugly…having them no other way. 
  
• Talk, talk, talk, talk….listen, listen, listen and more listening!
  
• Commitment and respect.
  

In addition to my thoughts, here are a few quotes (with positive connotations) that make me think of them:

“Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and the blossom when we love the ones we marry.”  ~ Tom Mullen

“Marriage is not a noun; it’s a verb.  It isn’t something you get.  It’s something you do.  It’s the way you love your partner every day.”  ~ Barbara De Angelis

“A happy marriage is a long conversation which seems too short.”  ~ Andre Maurois

“A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance, and tenacity.  The order varies for any given year.”  ~ Paul Sweeney

“Marriage is that relation between man and woman in which the independence is equal, the dependence mutual, and the obligation reciprocal.”  ~ Louis K. Anspacher

Thank you for the lessons and opportunities to passively observe over the years.  I am sure every day, month, situation, life event has not been “easy” (In fact I personally know of so many that couldn’t have been!); but again ~ thank you for modeling the possibilities to me. 

 

I love you both very much!  Again, thank you and Happy Anniversary!