Growing up, our house was always the house. You know the one. The cool one with the ping-pong table, huge yard, and big deck. The house where all my friends hung out because Mom and Dad would buy cake, and ice cream and chips and all that stuff we loved to eat. The house where Mom made anyone feel like family and Dad treated us like the adults we thought we were.

When I really did become an adult, several people told me this: the attraction to our home was more than the stuff and the food. It was more than my parents as individuals. It was their marriage. Friends loved coming over because they could watch my parents be in love. 

There’s no better testimony than that. Especially because it’s still true.

30 years ago they said their vows. To love one another…For richer and poorer, in sickness and in health…You know how they go.

They have lived those vows, and they are still in love.

It’s easy to see.

It’s in the way Dad touches Mom’s shoulder. And in a smile she gives him from across the room.

It’s in the genuine question, How was your day? And in all the goodbye kisses.

It’s in the way they tease each other, even argue. And in the forgiveness they share.

It’s in the way Mom stores Dad’s cell phone number (“Paulie Baby”). And in the way he calls her Grace-o.

It’s in the way they still care for their three grown daughters. And in the way they love their parents.

This love, this amazing, apparent, long-lasting love, is what Andy and I hope to have 25 years from now.

What a gift we have in their example. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

Happy 30th Anniversary! Here’s to another inspiring 30.