My parents have officially been married for 50 years.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the day they exchanged wedding vows in front of a justice of the peace back in 1973. It is fun to look through the wedding album my father's sister made for them as a keepsake. Seeing my mom and dad at ages 23 and 26...wow, those kids were stunning.
The thing that stands out in these photos, to me, is how happy they looked. My
mom and dad look like they are living their best day. They had no idea
what was in front of them but it didn't seem to matter. They had each
other and that appeared to be all they needed.
That duo would soon become a trio. I came along 17 months later. Followed by my brother and then, a surprise gift from God, my sister. We were a family of five by the time the 80s rolled around (my
dad had a vanity plate for our car that read Bish 5) and who would
guess that number would more than double by the time they would
celebrate their fifth decade together. (Add five grandkids and two
son-in laws.)
My
parents taught me a lot about marriage. I knew from an early age that
happily ever after is not a thing unless you put the work in. There is
no way my
parents could have known what was in store for them in the years ahead.
Losing parents, losing best friends, fighting cancer - these two have
seen a little bit of everything yet they never gave up on the one thing they started out with, each other.
Faith
has played a large role in their marriage as well. It was thirteen
years into their wedded union when they were finally able to get married
in a church. Despite that fact, attending weekly mass and attending
Catholic school was part of me and my siblings' stories. In our adult years, there isn't one family member that doesn't have a religious artifact in their car bestowed on them by either my mother or father to ensure our safety.
Looking back on my younger days, it was no secret that us kids meant the most to this couple and I
am very lucky to have the parents I was blessed with. It was just over a
year after they were married that I arrived and I never got the
impression they wanted more time to just be them. They were happy about
having a baby and their joy overflowed with each addition.
My mom was a stay at home mom for most of my
childhood, taking her first full time job when I was in 9th grade. I
had the cookies after school, the homecooked meals, the clean house when
I came home from school. They gave everything they had to make
birthdays amazing, Christmases the thing of storybooks (except for the
Cabbage Patch debacle of 1983 but my sister and I have since recovered) and instilling in us that anything is possible with hard work.
My
father worked for the local water authority where he dedicated 35 years
before retiring. There were holidays when he had to leave during
dinner, nights when he didn't come home until after we were asleep, days
where no matter the weather conditions he was outside repairing broken
water lines. My
siblings and I have no idea what his job was like at times but his
paycheck afforded us the ability to live modestly in our McKeesport home
with the occasional meal out on paydays.
Retired living has been the thing of dreams for my
parents. Maybe not the dreams of traveling around the world and seeing
the sights but traveling around the Pittsburgh area following the latest
pursuits of their five grandchildren. From hockey to basketball,
Tamburitzan shows and musicals, my parents try to catch whatever events are on the schedule each week. This is their passion. This is their reward.
I
know how fortunate I am to have parents who are celebrating this
milestone and while it isn't the celebration they were planning on, due to my mom's
recent illness, there will be plenty of opportunities in the months
ahead to get away and take pride in the beautiful family they have
created and realize that sometimes when you start with a wing and a prayer you can reach the greatest heights.
*My blog is featured as the On My Mind column in The Valley Mirror Newspaper each week. The publication covers the Steel Valley and Woodland Hills communities. *
