Recently my best friend’s parents celebrated their 45th anniversary. Can you imagine being married for 45 years? That seems nearly impossible when I am at the age where I am no longer hearing the ringing of wedding bells but rather the tearing up of joint accounts, mortgages and all other items associated with the union of two people. In the rare event that I do attend a wedding, in the back of my mind, I estimate how long it will last. being the survivor of a starter marriage, I wouldn’t say I was bitter….merely realistic.
However, this email gave me a lot to think about. Even with the religious references taken out, it is great advice for any couple starting out on a joint journey. Congratulations to Juan and Lydia Mercado!! Email follows:
COMBING GREY HAIR by Juan L. Mercado
( The wife and I had to give a “response” to the toast that our kids and friends offered on our 45th wedding anniversary. Here is what Lydia and I mumbled. – JLM )
J : The Irish poet William Butler Yeats once wrote of a friend: “we dared to dream that he would comb grey hair.” Lydia and I now comb grey hair.
Yet, to advance in age – and hopefully, in wisdom and grace — is denied to many. Scan the obituary pages. You wince to see so many young lives cut short, some in brutal conflicts as in Mindanao and elsewhere.
And was it not Henry IV who wondered aloud: “Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?” .
It has been 12 years now since Lydia was diagnosed with breast cancer. Surgery, chemotheraphy, radiation and follow-up checks blurred into each other. Yet, God saw fit to give the present of extended years. We are grateful.
L A “sapphire” anniversary is more than about combing grey hair. “Gratitude is “memory of the heart”. It is a time for giving thanks for the good days as well as the not-so-good days.
(more…)
