I’m leaving for Missouri tomorrow so I can celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of my Uncle Bob and Aunt Joyce with the rest of my family. I’ve got a lot to do today before I leave however, including finishing tomorrow’s Fundamentals in Film offering, so this may be my only post today.

My kids call Uncle Bob “Uncle Bubba” and they love visiting Aunt Joyce because they get to make homemade doughnuts and other treats. To me though they don’t seem old enough to fit the picture I have in my mind of what people married 50 years look like; they’re just people I’ve known, literally, all my life. If I do the math however it adds up irrefutably and reminds me that my own parents will hit their golden anniversary at the end of this year as well. No doubt there are a lot of profound things to say about the times and seasons that go into this accomplishment, and no doubt these will all occur to me over the next couple of days. For now, though, I’m simply reminded of a poem by Leah Furnas that I came across last year and set aside.

The Longly-Weds Know
That it isn’t about the Golden Anniversary at all,
But about all the unremarkable years
that Hallmark doesn’t even make a card for.

It’s about the 2nd anniversary when they were surprised to find they cared for each other more than last year

And the 4th when both kids had chickenpox
and she threw her shoe at him for no real reason

And the 6th when he accidentally got drunk on the way home from work because being a husband and father was so damn hard

It’s about the 11th and 12th and 13th years when
they discovered they could survive crisis

And the 22nd anniversary when they looked
at each other across the empty nest, and found it good.

It’s about the 37th year when she finally
decided she could never change him

And the 38th when he decided a little change wasn’t that bad

It’s about the 46th anniversary when they both
bought cards, and forgot to give them to each other

But most of all it’s about the end of the 49th year
when they discovered you don’t have to be old to have your 50th anniversary!!!!

“The Longly-Weds Know” by Leah Furnas, from To Love One Another © Grayson Books.

Bob and Joyce also made an appearance in this post from last spring.

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