Celebrating 35 years of marriage

Happy 35th wedding anniversary to my parents today!

(And for you Norwegians…it is Syttende Mai too!)

I pulled out a couple archived photos of my parents with all four of their kids…Kirsti, Robbie, Joe and me plus Hunter, the first grandchild. 

You can click here and see a few archived photos from decades ago of my parents. 

Please look so you can see how my dad pulled off wearing the ugliest tuxedo on the face of this earth.

I learned a lot about Christian marriage from my parent’s example.

First, you can wear an ugly tuxedo at your wedding, get married at age 20 and still have a tremendous marriage! My parent have done just that.

They have survived turmoil and trials through business (7 feet of flood water/ sewage on the main floor of our family business in 1997 while transitioning into farming full-time) and personal struggles (the loss & struggle of having children after I was born until Robbie arrived safely in 1985). Through it all they have kept their Christian faith strong and at the center of their marriage while remaining best friends.

I also learned many aspects of how to successfully parent from my mom and dad. My parents are extremely supportive parents. They also are realistic, don’t sugarcoat and keep you focused. Thirteen years ago, they gave me a foundation to keep going as a teen mother, to compete athletically in college while completing my college degree. Through it all, my parents launched me, let me fly solo, picked me when I fell, only to release me to try to fly again. I would not be WHO I am today and WHERE I today if it were not for my parent’s shining example of what it is to be committed, true and loyal, both as parents as well as to one another.

We sarcastically have teased my dad through the years about the numerous one liners he says to my mom. They are sweet, respectful and loving but we love to tease him. Dad seems to always think Mom is making a new recipe and glows daily about her cooking. He always compliments her on how beautiful she looks, no matter where we are, what she wearing–gardening to going to church. As kids…we teased him but as an adult I get that it is what a marriage should be and is a basis to my parent’s success in marriage. They love each other every day, all the time.  

My mom’s marriage advice to me as a searching young 20ish woman was first “don’t marry someone you can live with, marry someone you can’t live without” and second “You need to agree on the BIG things and compromise on the LITTLE things.”

Both of those bits of advice solidified for both Nathan and me that we wanted to be married forever to each other. In modern day, where marriages come and go, my parent’s marriage has provided a foundation for us to build our marriage upon and grow together. 

In 31 years my prayer and hope is that we will be blogging (or using some other swanky technology!) about our 35th wedding anniversary and about my parent’s 70th wedding anniversary (they’ll be 90 years…probably living with us.) Wait I took math classes more than to once to pass them. That would be their 66th wedding anniversary and they will be 86 years old. Either way. I hope we are celebrating.

So here is to another 35 years, Mom and Dad. We love you. Thank you.