Happy Anniversary Mom And Dad

  Today is my parents 50th wedding anniversary. Fifty years! Most of you haven't even been alive that long. Can you imagine being with the same person day in and day out for fifty years? Going to bed with them, getting up with them watching the hard times and the good times come and go all with one person.
    I can, because I have seen it done. My husband and I both have parents that are still married to their original spouses. How unusual is that at this time when people refer to their first marriages as practice marriages and spouses are interchangeable. I have seen my parents struggle through some really hard times when they didn't know if they could hang on and yet they did. They gave their three daughters a basic understanding of what kind of commitment it takes to keep going.
     Some people think of marriage as a 50/50 proposition, but I believe that to be false. If you only gave 50 percent to your job or career how long do you think you would be on the payroll. When my husband and I got married our Bishop told us that marriage is about giving 100 percent and I agree. When you have given every thing inside of yourself and it still isn't working you have to reach down deep and give a little bit more to make it to the top of the mountain. 
     My hubby and I have reached a place, after 31 years of marriage, where we still drive each other crazy some times, but we just don't let it bother us too much anymore and the little things don't matter. What does matter is that our children know that despite all the ups and down we love each other and them and family is what matters when it is all said and done. So thanks Mom and thanks Dad for being strong enough to make it work all these years and for setting the bar so high that we all have something to strive for and an example to follow.