Happy 40th Anniversary!

HAPPY 40th ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!

When I think of your anniversary each year, I always feel so grateful...grateful for many things. For me, your union is more than the years shared between the two of you; it is what we, as a family, have shared. My family derives from you and the love you've fostered and happily shared. How can I begin to say thank you?

As I've gotten older, I realize more and more how much you must love me. I think back, and am awed by the sacrifices involved in being my parents.

So while the two of you enjoy a day of reminiscing about your courtship, wedding, and the early years, I will enjoy a day of overwhelming gratitude. Of course I have memories too...let's see if I can combine the two...

1) I love that you are not only husband and wife, but you are best friends.

2) I love that you always support each other, even when it's not easy.

3) I love that you play games and taught me how to enjoy the fun of it.

4) I also appreciate the competitive streak I got from Daddy.

5) Sometimes I even appreciated Mom for allowing me opportunities to learn patience when she would win a game while playing it half-asleep and claiming (the entire time) she didn't even know what she was doing.

6) Some of my favorite memories are from all of our trips to Panama City Beach.

7) Thank you for always letting me get an airbrushed T-shirt as a souvenir.

8) And thank you for showing my the beauty in those chintzy souvenir shops.

9) I have a brother because of you...that is a thank you, not a frustrated observation.

10) You taught me how to appreciate my grandparents.

11) You made every holiday a joy and an event!

12) I love how you give cards for everything.

13) Daddy taught me how much fun it can be to roll coins, and Mom taught me to always save my coins to give to Daddy since he enjoyed rolling them so much.

14) One time when I was in elementary school, I came home to find that mom and dad had switched our bedrooms so I could have the bigger one.

15) They let me get a puppy even though I think they knew I wouldn't really be the one helping. (They would have been correct.)

16) I've never felt ignored, unappreciated, or anything less than special from my parents.

17) Even growing up, including the teen years, they always seemed to enjoy spending time with me.

18) I always knew that no matter what was going on around me, I could always go home.

19) I was only grounded once.

20) I should have been grounded lots more.

21) My friends liked my mom and dad more than they liked me.

(Maybe not really, but that's how it seemed to my 14 year old psychie.

22) They let me drive by myself the day I got my driver's license.

23) As much as I love that gesture, I do not think I will be repeating it with my own children.

24) Christmas is my favorite holiday because of how Mom and Dad always celebrated it.

25) I try to implement many of those traditions into my own little family's Christmases.

26) Does Daddy still have that old camera with the big zoom and the ginormous flash?!

27) My love of musicals comes from Mom...she has always found a song to sing to accomodate any occasion.

28) My love of old Christian quartets comes from Daddy...everytime I hear one, it makes me smile.

29) Because of my parents, I have never doubted God or my Savior.

30) I can remember all the times we packed up and moved to our new church and new house...I learned teamwork from those times.

31) Sunday mornings always made me feel peaceful and content...gospel music on the tape player, Mom clicking around the kitchen in her Sunday shoes, the smell of Daddy's Old Spice wafting through the house as he got ready, the sound of loving conversation between my parents about the upcoming service.

32) The memories of Sundays after church always leave me with warm fuzzies...mom and dad going off to change clothes while discussing how the sermon went, who said what, and who needed what; gospel music on the tape player; the smell of lunch cooking in the oven; naptime and gametime.

33) But my favorite Sunday memories are from the nights before...going to the church; overhearing Daddy practicing his sermon; the smell of ink and toner while Mom and Dad ran of the copies of the bulletin; Daddy playing 'that song' on the piano; Mom straightning up the choir loft and double-checking the Sunday school rooms; helping to fold the bulletins while we watched Love Boat and Fantasy Island.

34) My parents taught me about compassion.

35) Being a parent now, I can only get a glimpse into those years of my chemotherapy.

36) No words can ever begin to express my love, my gratitude, my devotion, my amazement at the support, love, positive attitudes, strength, prayers, and commitment from those years.

37) Through all of that, my parents helped me to see myself as a normal kid.

38) I always loved being a "preacher's kid".

39) One of my greatest treasures is how much they love being Goppie and Papa to my children and the best in-laws to my sweet husband...can you really ask for more?

40) I am eternally grateful for being shown how important family is...how to be a hands-on parent...how to enjoy time with loved ones...and how, after untold trials and heartaches, to always love each other with your complete self.

I really had a hard time stopping at 40. My mind is still racing with things I would love to share. How happy I am to be your daughter...to have been witness to such a beautiful marriage all

these years! I'm still watching and learning. I am so privileged to be able to continue to draw strength from your love. I hope that you have been even half as blessed from me being your daughter as I have been from you being my Mom and Dad.

Thank you. I love you. I like you. I cherish you.

Happy Anniversary!