Forty-three years ago today, on a snowy wet day my Mom and Dad got hitched. Two days after Christmas and maybe a week or two before my father shipped out to Vietnam, they got married in an intimate ceremony with their closest friends and family in attendance, at a small church in Connecticut.
My Dad left for Vietnam shortly after and when he returned home to his wife she was plus one, he had a brand new baby girl. When I think about how my Mom in such a short time became someone's wife, a newlywed, a pregnant woman, saying goodbye to the love of her life and watching him being shipped off to Vietnam, I am truly amazed at her strength and her ability to cope in what must have been beyond overwhelming circumstances for a twenty-two year old girl.
I can not imagine going through my pregnancy and not having Drew there to run out to get me my must-have delights, like my chocolate donuts, or whatever else I needed to have at. that. very. moment.
My Mom and Dad communicated via audio tapes, but they were not even normal cassette tape, audio tapes. They were like reels that they had to put into a machine to listen to, like a movie reel almost. This is how they had to share their most intimate moments. When I hear stories about it now, I almost have a physical reaction in response to what that must have been like for them.
When I first starting dating and falling in love with Drew, I could not stand to be away from him for more than a few hours, let alone be worlds apart and not even know when I would see him again, if I would ever see him again, all the while being PREGNANT. Add in my Mom's young age and it just makes it even more unbearable. At that age, I had absolutely no control over my emotions, none whatsoever. Everything was so raw, so in the moment and if I needed something emotionally from Drew I needed it right then and there.
Life was so different back then and the challenges that my parents faced were so different than the challenges that Drew and I currently face as a couple. I originally wrote young before couple in that last sentence, but erased it as I realized that we may no longer be classified as a 'young couple', as we are approaching forty and are only months away from our ten year anniversary. Although, compared to the forty-three years of marriage that my parents have endured, we would certainly still be considered a young couple. I suppose it just depends on who your audience is.
I congratulate my parents and applaud the efforts that they have both made in their marriage. They have always been equals, each one working just as hard as the other, each one contributing to our family. I can only hope to have forty-three years of marriage with the love of my life as my Mother has been lucky enough to have with hers.
