Wedding Wednesday: N&P and M&D

Just a quick thank you to everyone who read and commented on yesterday's post - as I said in response to Lindsay, I'm confident that you all are being proactive in whatever way you can be, vocally or otherwise, to change our country and this world for the better.  It makes me so proud to have followers like you!

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Wedding Wednesday is way more fun than I ever thought it would be - on the bus back from New York yesterday, I had a blast planning the schedule for the next few months' worth of posts.  I can't wait to share some more of the decisions we've been making and the options we're still weighing.  Plus, in January, I'm going to introduce you to our bridal party!  But today is extra special.

Today I want to send love to two relationships that have taught me an enormous amount about how to make my own the best it can be: my maternal grandparents' and my parents' marriages.

Next week is actually my grandparents' 59th wedding anniversary - they wed in 1953 after being set up by mutual friends and it was wonderful to see, when I visited them earlier this week, how one is so much a part of the other, having spent decades bending together so that they are perfectly entwined.  As Jon and I embark on our own marriage, not much older than they were when they got married, it's truly inspiring to see this example of how two people can grow together while maintaining such strong senses of self.

To my glamorous Nana and the most handsome Pappy - happy anniversary.  I love you.

And this weekend is my dad's birthday!  But I can't really celebrate who my father is without mentioning his marriage to my mother because they've been together for 71% of his life.  And now that I'm living with them as an adult, I have a much deeper appreciation for who they are individually and as a couple and how one informs the other.  When you're a child, you think that marriage is a smooth ride from one end of the rainbow to the other.  Watching their relationship up close, though, now that I can understand some of what I see, has taught me that being in a true partnership is real work; love and marriage aren't always easy but when you choose, every day, to be with someone and to have faith in him/her and to love him/her through everything no matter what - well, I know that my relationship with Jon will be stronger for recognizing this.

So to Dad: happy birthday!  And to Mom: thanks for getting him here.  I love you both very much!