Happy 50th Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa!

The excitement of going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The aroma of fried chicken in the air. Adult discussions taking place in the living room. Miss Scarlet in the Study with the lead pipe; the verdict of a fun game of clue. Yes, those were the days...those were Sundays. As a child this was a day of events but the most memorable was the fried chicken supper at Grandma and Grandpa's house! We would hop in our little Ford Tempo. Tara, Chase and I squished in the back seat. Arriving after a car ride that seemed like an eternity. Grandma could be found in the kitchen, cooking some of the best comfort food available. Grandpa, possibly on the recliner in the living room. Fried chicken is the meal I most remember, however, anything Grandma made was good. I don't know how she managed to have a meal prepared for us all (Aunt Des's family, Uncle Jud's family, my family and Josh) but she did. Grandma had a special table set up for us kids in the kitchen. We had so much fun! More times than I can count, we would get reprimanded for being too rowdy, laughing or being silly. After dinner the women would be in the kitchen, washing dishes and cleaning up after the meal. Most of us kids would wander upstairs to the bedroom to play office, lawyers or a game of CLUE. I loved playing with Jenny and Tara. I'm not so sure they loved playing with me. I'm scarred by the memory of playing lawyers with them; Tara and Jenny both had a real desk, a real phone, paper and pens while I had a trash can turned upside down with a couple of items I was supposed to pretend were real.

Staying the night with grandma and grandpa was a real treat. I have a couple of memories that stick out in my mind. Each one includes breakfast. First of all, I remember hearing grandma and grandpa get up very early in the morning. At the time, I thought grandpa ate breakfast in the middle of the night. I now know that some people simply start their day a little earlier than others. Grandma would get up and make grandpa breakfast and send him off to work. What devotion! She would not simply pack him some muffins and make a coffee, (as I often do). No, grandma made eggs and bacon for grandpa. I would be in a daze smelling it for a little while and then I'd drift back off to sleep for a couple more hours. Then came the time for grandma to make us breakfast. I remember having pancakes. But, there was a little stumbling block here. Unlike at my house, grandma and grandpa had a couple of different kinds of syrup. I remember Tara, Chase and myself whispering to each other in the dining room while grandma was in the kitchen, we were discussing the boysenberry syrup sitting on the table. We were not going to partake in that type because boysenberries were obviously poison-berries. And then, on another occasion, there was the cream of wheat. My mom always prepared our cream of wheat, added the proper amount of sugar, butter and any other fixings you might add to cream of wheat. Again, grandma had the table set with all sorts of options that I could add to my cream of wheat. She gave me my unadorned bowl of cream of wheat. I ate a couple bites with no fixings in it (I had no idea what amounts or whether or not I could add anything) and decided I'd wait for lunch. If only I knew grandma had set those options on the table for me to add to my cream of wheat! I'm sure I would have thought she made the best cream of wheat in the world.

I always wished it to be nice outside while at Grandma and Grandpa's because if it were nice outside, I could go on the rope swing. While swinging on the rope swing, I felt like the most adventurous girl in the world! I remember swinging and seeing grandpa out in the shop and proudly receiving a wave and recognition of my courage while on the swing. Another proud moment was my first time climbing a ladder with grandpa. He was at the top of a ladder leading to the roof (I don't remember why) and I remember him telling me that I could climb up too. I don't even remember how old I was, probably four or five. Grandpa made me feel like a big girl that day though, climbing that ladder, something even my big sister Tara wouldn't do! This brings me to another memory involving a ladder. One Sunday, while playing in the upstairs bedroom, grandpa decided to climb a ladder leading up to the window of that room. I don't remember the details but I remember being scared silly by a masked man looking through the window!

Christmas Eve was my favorite night of the year. And, every year it involved going to Grandma and Grandpa's house! I loved arriving and seeing all of the gifts under the tree. Grandma and Grandpa have always been extremely generous at Christmas time. I do believe I have been quite spoiled. And the candy, it seems there was always fudge and divinity and cookies! That night, Christmas Eve, was basically a kid's paradise.

These are just some of my memories. I have twenty-three years of beautiful memories. You have been married fifty years. Fifty years devoted to each other. Thank you, grandma and grandpa, for valuing marriage. Thank you, for setting the tone and enjoying life together, for blessing my dad with life so that I can have life and my kids can have life. I will boast on the fact that my grandparents have kept their vows, loved, nurtured and cherished each other for fifty years. And that my parents are doing the same and I too will pass on the legacy of a lasting marriage.

Praise The Lord, for HE IS GOOD.