Celebrating Sixty Years of Marriage

Today my parents are celebrating a milestone in marriage.  Sixty years!   This impressive sixty years is marked by diamonds. Diamonds are such a rare gem which symbolizes beauty, rarity and everlasting love.  I guess you can compare a diamond to what sixty years of marriage is all about. 

The beauty and quality of  a diamond comes with a price, such as celebrating sixty years of marriage.  Statistics show that 40 to 50% of marriages end up in divorce.  Now days, the millennials are choosing not to marry due to their own parents divorcing and living in such distraught homes.

We live in a society where "diamonds are a girl's best friend".  The ironic part of this is that people don't realize what a diamond goes through to become a diamond.  Diamonds are extremely rigid and few types of impurity can contaminate it.  Diamonds also have a relatively high optical dispersion, the ability to disperse light of different colors.  Under high pressure and temperature, carbon-containing fluids dissolved minerals and replaced them with diamonds.

My parents have built a legacy showing their family and friends that their sixty years was built on their love of God, faith, family and friends.  The years were not easy, but they endured as a couple to get through each day, each month and each year.  There has been joy, happiness, death and hardships.  A diamond goes through each of those steps as well to become the quality that is needed to be a rare diamond.

As I was researching sixty years of marriage, I discovered that in England cards are sent from the Royal Palace to those celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.  The Queen's congratulatory message consists of a card containing a personalized message and comes in a special envelope.  In November, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip will celebrate seventy-two years of marriage.  I would say that is definitely a "milestone".

If you want to be a diamond, then you need to realize what it takes.  So as I look at my own marriage, I know that it takes commitment, dedication, devotion, allegiance and loyalty to each other.  That there will be pain and hardship a long the way.  As Audrey Hepburn said "for those you are letting age get in the way of love, the best thing to hold onto in life is each other."

Do you want to become the diamond?  Then hold on to your spouse and walk the path of life and you will reach the sparkling diamond at the end.

Cheers to mom and dad for showing me the path down the "yellow brick road"!

Happy 60th!

Harry and Joyce

February 20, 1959

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