I’m doing some spring cleaning and yard selling today. While I was sorting through boxes of baby clothes and crib sheets, I found a box full of family photos and newspaper clippings my grandmother had collected over her life. The first article I saw was on my great grandmother and her husband. This is what it said:
Mr. and Mrs. —- observed their 64th wedding anniversary last Wednesday with an open invitation to all their friends and to join them sometime during the day for a piece of Mrs. —-‘s homemade carrot cake. The couple happily reminisced about their wedding day, which they described as bitterly cold, and other incidents throughout their married lives. Mr. —- said that when they had their 50th anniversary, the renewal of marriage vows was part of the ceremony, and a few years later during a service at their church, Wesley Chapel, minister asked all couples of the church to renew marriage vows. “So I’ve been married to this woman three times,” he chuckled.
I wish I could scan the picture and share it with you all. My great grandfather has his arm around my great grandmother’s shoulders and her head is thrown back while she laughs at something he said. It’s a beautiful photo, and really struck a chord with me. My great grandparents were married for sixty-nine years, my grandparents were married for fifty-four years, my parents have been married for thirty-four years, and I’ve been married for eleven years.
Reading that clipping gave me a “this is why I write romance” moment. It proves that it is possible for two people to meet fresh out of high school, fall madly in love, and maintain that love throughout their lives. I’m just feeling humbled right now, and blessed that my husband and I are carrying on the family tradition.
Hailey writes about questionable applications of otherwise perfectly good magic, the transformative power of love, the family you choose for yourself, and blowing stuff up. Not necessarily all at once. That could get messy.
