Thoughts on Mom and Dad’s Golden Anniversary party

You know how you look forward to a big event, worrying about all the details, wondering how it will all pull together ... IF it will all pull together? And then the day finally comes and it ends up being even more spectacular and memorable than you imagined! That’s how my parents’ 50th anniversary party went.

Back in January, Jennifer suggested that Glenn and I be in charge of taking pictures of the day, but I knew even then that it would be very difficult for me to devote the time to taking pictures, so Glenn agreed to be in charge of pictures. Good thing. I ended up with about 25 pictures (Erica took some of the decorations); he took over 500.  :o)  But I will share the best of what I have because I really want to document everything while it’s still fresh in my memory.

The tent

The tent was put up on Wednesday and Mom was so bowled over by it she could hardly describe it over the phone. It took up most of their small backyard! It was tempting to drive down there just to see it, but I didn’t want to take time away from the scanning for the PowerPoint Presentation, plus several of the kids got colds mid-week, so I reluctantly decided to stay home and let the kids rest. We went down on Friday to decorate and it was HUGE!  The tables and chairs had also been delivered and friend Dayla had lent some of her white lights to decorate trees and bushes. Even with no décor (except the bunting Jennifer and Kelly made), it was just enchanting at night.

It ended up being a lovely, sunny day in the low ‘80s -- not too hot or humid. But, it did get warm in the sun, so it sure was nice to have the big tent.

The Balloons

Something I realized through this: you can never have too many balloons. The balloons were used to frame the big screen and also camouflage the tent poles. But lots of balloons also say this: today is a really special day.

When we got there on Saturday morning, a lot of the balloons had already been put up by the “balloon people.” It was incredible. Glenn actually took a funny picture of me standing there staring at it all with my mouth gaping open.  :-D

Mom

On Saturday morning, Heather did Mom’s hair and a friend did her make-up. She’d picked out a dress just a couple of days before the big day and kept it hidden to surprise Dad.

She looked really beautiful. The kids were still talking about her the next day, “Grandma looked sooooo pretty!” Even 5-year-old Grant told her. She really looked lovely.  :-)

Mom is posing with James, the man who constructed the giant record, book and vinyl record columns.

I snapped this right after she came out in her party glory.  She was surveying all her domain.  :-)

Her wedding dress was on display on a dressmaker’s form, which was slightly too big around for the dress. She was only 18 when they were married and had a 24-inch waist.

Dad

Days before the party, Dad ended up trying on the jacket he wore on their wedding day and it fit! So he wore that. Most of the people I talked to didn’t know it was the same jacket, because he wasn’t saying anything about it. A cousin told me she guessed when, after she complimented him, he said “Thanks. It’s an original.”  :-)

 

 

Grandma

Grandma (Mom’s mom) turned 92 in June and has been in slowly declining health the past few years. None of us would’ve dreamed she could be at the party, but a good friend from the rehab facility where Grandma lives made all the arrangements and it was a wonderful surprise for Mom and Dad. It was such a tender moment when they wheeled her into the tent - definitely a highlight of the day for all of us! And then we girls had to sing right after that! Not fair! We couldn’t look at any of them.  ;-)

Pictures and Memories

With the help of Rachel doing the picture arranging and taping and sisters and Mom helping with milestones, we set up 5 boards – one for each decade – along with highlights from each decade. That was fun, and it reminded me of how important it is to document your pictures! Mom has told me for years to write down dates and names on the backs of pictures. I was glad she has been so faithful in doing that!

It was amazing to me how many pictures we have of Mom and Dad, just the two of them, together. Amazing especially when you think of how many kids and grandkids there are. In fact, there were so many good photos of the two of them that I decided to put them all together at the end of the presentation, one after another, in chronological order

This is a collage I just created of the ones I used (there were more I kept finding after the fact!).

The Program

This is a copy of the program we printed outlining the order of singing and memory-sharing we did to celebrate the day. We printed off 12 of them and put them in clear, plastic frames on each table. No, I did not get pictures of the actual presentation, which involved singing and a slideshow of Mom and Dad’s “story”.  :-)  But Glenn did (hint, hint, Glenn!).

More pictures

More décor …

More fun …

(Most of the rest of these were taken once the party was winding down, and I could catch my breath long enough to pick the camera back up. :-)

Watching the movie “Up” after it was all over.

Kelly made badges for each of us girls to wear. We decided to use school pictures of us, because the guests who haven’t seen us since then might recognize us in pictures from that time. I didn’t realize until I saw this picture how much Claire looks like me.  :-)

 

More love …

 

Mom and Dad

They have always demonstrated so many important ideals in a marriage: teamwork, sacrifice, selflessness. Through the years, none of us kids ever doubted their complete devotion to each other. Anyone who knows them (from their church friends to the cashier at the grocery) knows also of their devotion to the rest of us, but all of the stability and love in our family flows from their special relationship.

This is from a note I wrote to a friend earlier today:

There are some marriages that make it to the 50-year mark, and you get the feeling that the couple just sort of dug in and stuck it out, gritting their teeth through most of it. Not so with my parents. Of course, they’re human and have their faults and weaknesses and I know they had rough patches through the years, probably even some times of “digging in” and “gritting their teeth.” But I truly feel like their marriage has been a “labor of love.” I remember having a conversation with Mom about marriage when I was a teenager. She said “We hear people say marriage should be 50/50, but Dad and I have always felt like the other gives 100%.”

Roadtrip Recap

It’s been a couple of days since we all got back from the great Five Sisters Room Redo of 2013 and we’re all still basking in the afterglow of a great few days together. I seriously think my stomach muscles are just starting to recover from all the laughing, which is usual for us, but was enhanced this time by shared family jokes and memories, loads of good chocolate, extremely late nights, missed exits and wrong turns, and interesting West Virginia locals giving vague directions. There’s just no way it can all be properly told here (nor should it be,  for that matter). To quote my brother-in-law:  “What happens in DC stays in DC.”

It was great seeing Minda’s home for the first time and my niece and nephews seemed to be genuinely tickled that we were all there. They started referring to us collectively as “the aunts.”  In fact, we all agreed that was one of the unexpected blessings of the whole trip: special time with these 3 that we’ve never had before. Since the Ramseys live out of state, we typically only see them a few times a year, and then, we’re all together and the cousins spend time playing with each other, of course.

Jordan (8) and Caleb (6) were especially excited to show us all of their baseball trophies and we were glad for the opportunity to go to one of their baseball practices.

“The aunts” would like you all to know that Jordan and Caleb are both very talented baseball players; in fact, we can say with great confidence and complete objectivity that they are by far the two strongest players on their team.

   

Some day, I think these pictures will be collectors’ items worth millions, because they were taken when their talent was only known by their family and baseball coaches.

They looked so cute in their baseball gear that I have to confess it did make me consider signing Grant up for tee ball. In fact, Jordan gave one of his gloves to me to give to Grant, so I think we might be on to something here.

In addition to baseball, another of Caleb’s talents that I learned about was his wide range of facial expressions. I can’t predict how this particular talent will serve him in life, but it did make for some fun pictures.  :-)

 

While the boys often found other things to do while we were there, Cameron just seemed to enjoy being wherever we were.

 

I’m not sure how scintillating our conversation was to her, but there was a lot of that laughing I mentioned early on. ;-)

I’m sure we all enjoyed the dinners we had crowded around their dining room table, sharing stories and, well, laughing.

OK, so we look pretty serious here. We were probably all catching our breath. I know the pictures are small, but do you really want to see close-ups of people eating? Kelly was just to my left. The one picture I snapped with her in it caught her just as she was putting a piece of stromboli in her mouth, so I did her a favor and left it out.  :-D

And the decorating – yes, the whole reason why the trip was planned in the first place! Minda’s guest room needed a new look, which translates to lots and lots of painting -- no surprise to us, since we are sisters to the Midwest Martha Stewart. Different shades of white were purchased in gallons and spray cans. We all knew the results would be dramatic. And they were.

Here is just one example of a cheap Goodwill lamp before and after

Another example is the bed:

 

Even the matting of this print got a makeover with white paint:

 

One fun project was this little seat that went with a vanity. The only before shot I got of it was this:

After a trip to Goodwill, where we purchased a dress with fabric we loved, the seat was transformed!

First a little cutting …

… then a little stapling (how many women do you know who smile like that with a staple gun in hand?) …

 

… and voila!

By Wednesday late afternoon, the decorating was finished and after dinner, we were gearing up to leave. We finished with a couple of quick songs on the piano and posed for some pictures. We girls and Jordan went to a frozen yogurt place for one last hurrah and then we headed out. The epilogue to this story was an after-midnight, hair-raising ride through the hills of a small West Virginia town. I’m sorry to say that I will not be recounting that trip; it will mostly live on safely in our memories. Except for perhaps a badly-executed karate move, that I might be persuaded to perform by special request only.

We did spend several hours in the car working on the plans for Mom and Dad’s upcoming anniversary party, boy was that helpful. We got a lot figured out, and documented, thanks to our secretary.

(Yes, she’s writing on the page of an atlas. We sometimes get desperate in this nearly paperless age of electronics)

 

and yes, we had more Peanut M&Ms.

I got home around 5:00 and was greeted with great fanfare.

(One of my favorite stories about what happened here at home while I left was when Trent said to Rachel: “Are you my mommy now, Rachel?”)

I think I can safely say that for each of us, we were eager to be back with our families, but a little sad the trip was over. It all just couldn’t have gone better from start to finish and we are just overwhelmed with thankfulness for God’s many blessings.

Question:

What’s more fun than hiding behind bushes with my sisters?

Going on a ROAD TRIP with them! For the first time ever, the four Hoosier sisters will be heading east to visit the Virginia sister and her family! Minda wants to do an Extreme Guest Room Makeover, so Kelly decided to head out to lend a helping hand and thought maybe we could all go together. It’s been about a month in the making, and I’m kind of surprised it all pulled together so quickly, without any major glitches. Of course, I’m a little anxious about how everything will go while I’m gone, but I know the girls are very capable and Mick is even able to work from home while I’m gone (Praise God for that!!).

I’m planning on taking lots of pictures and even some video, so if all goes well, the trip will be well documented and I can come back and share some great pictures and stories of our visit.

We’ve already covered the basics, like the route we’ll take, pick-up locations and times, etc. and now we’re getting down to the really important stuff: snacks for the trip!  :-9 So looking forward to it all!