I'm about to brag, again

The video below is a home movie I made for my parents when they celebrated their 50TH wedding anniversary 2 years ago. The video is long, just over five minutes. It's only some pictures of my parents life from the time they met, had three kids and celebrated their 50Th. Nothing exciting but this video is what made me think about this post.




I was looking for a movie I had made after the wife and I were married when I stumbled upon this one. The memories of making it came flooding back . Lets just say it was an eye opening experience.

I grew up in a typical house. I always thought my parents were your average Joe and Jane. It wasn't until I made this video did it hit me, I mean really hit me, that they are real people. As I viewed the pictures I realized our family was only part of their life, not the whole thing. Before there was a me there was a them and before that there were two individual people.

50 Years is quite an accomplishment. They married young, not considered the end of the world back then. My mom was 15 years old. They didn't have it easy either. They started off with nothing and no one to help them out. My dad broke his back early in their marriage, in a race car accident, and was told he would never walk again. He was walking in three weeks, that's the type people they are. Not to many years later they had their first child and lost it to cystic fibrosis three months later. As if that wasn't enough to test a marriage they lost a second child, also three months old, to the same disease a few years after that. Mom has also had a serious case of skin cancer. They just push on, together.

Despite it all they are two of the most out going people you could meet. Once when I was sitting at popular steak house, Outback Steakhouse, I noticed a boomerang hanging over the bar. It caught my eye because it had my parents first names on it. I asked our waitress what the boomerang meant and who's names were on it. She said they only did that for their special customers that had become part of the Outback family. Then she went on to describe my parents to a tee. Pretty much typical of everyone they meet and everywhere they go, they make friends and leave an impression.

As I made this video I was left wondering, were they able to accomplish 50 years of marriage because of a strong love that bound them together for life or was it just two people who both share a love of life? I may never know the answer but I'm sure glad I've been able to be part of it.