Happily Ever After

Today is my parents' 66th wedding anniversary. I was going to write a post in their honor, but after reading the one I did last year, I decided to use it again. I don't think I can come up with any better words today to share the story of their love and their life together ... a marriage that was truly made in Heaven. The year was 1943, and America was in the midst of World War II. Times were tough and the future uncertain, to say the least. He was a handsome young sailor, barely 19 years old, and she was his pretty little 17-year-old high school sweetheart. They were deeply and madly in love ... and nothing would do but that they get married. Halloween fell on a Sunday that year, and at 9:30 a.m., between Sunday School and church, they were married at the First Methodist Church in Monroe, Louisiana. And from that day forward, they have honored and fulfilled their wedding vows by devoting their lives to each other, for better, for worse ... for richer, for poorer ... and in sickness and in health. Today my parents are celebrating their 66th Wedding Anniversary, and are still just as deeply in love as they were that Sunday morning in 1943, if not more so. Of course, in 66 years of marriage there were some hard times ... and some sad times ... but their unwavering faith in God and their abiding love for each other gave them the strength to endure them. My mother's favorite Bible verse is Corinthians 1:13:7, and I think it exemplifies their love and the life they have shared together: Love bears all things, Believes all things, Hopes all things, Endures all things. It is difficult for me to put into words how truly blessed I feel to have these two precious people for parents. They have been an inspiration to me and my family throughout our lives, and I hope they know how much we all love and admire them.