Daddy & Mommy

Last weekend my parents were away on their 30th anniversary "honeymoon" as my Daddy frequently calls it. And it’s making me think Deep Thoughts.

I asked my mother if she and Daddy clicked so well before they were married or if it has grown in their being married to each other more than half their lives. She says it has mostly grown, but I have to wonder because they are both such easy-going lovely people that it can't be only that.

Then I wonder: will I ever find somebody like that? Someone who gets all my inferences and humor as well as my family, yet is more besides? Some days I feel like I will and those are tingly indeed and then some hours I don't believe it and the tingles vanish, but thankfully I have Snowball aka Kitty-Meow (who is also one of Mommy’s best buds) and Licorice aka Quicher to kiss and cuddle and talk with and all is well again.

But animals bring me back to my mother because she has always loved them and so I inherit that virtue from her, which is supported by Daddy who is always willing to help care for any animal—be it a milk cow or a trip to a shelter with two stray dogs.

Those things might sound rather plain and unconnecteable, but they aren't because really they are at the heart of what their marriage is. Joining together in patiently loving each other and other little things—whether they be furry balls of sweetness (... or not)—difficult children and most of all God.

That of course is what is most important. Just this afternoon it was brought home again to me how blessed I have been in the sterling history of Faith I've been born into—from most of my great-grandparents to all of my grandparents to my Daddy and Mommy who have never failed to always lead my siblings and I to the feet of Christ. It's overwhelming.

In the first 1/3 of their marriage my parents moved from Chicago to LA to Seattle (I'm awfully glad I can say I’m Pacific Northwest born). They had Heidi and Luke and then welcomed and said good-bye to my baby older brother Brian, who I won't meet until Heaven. And it has all only made them stronger.

They take us on glorious heart-filling Western journeys, love us even when we are horrid, always know just the gift that will click for us (honestly Daddy, that collection of 25 John Wayne films was the birthday gift of the decade!), show us jolly old TV shows, take us on bike rides and encourage us in our imaginings and plots. Altogether it has been an adventure and I've only been on 2/3's of it.

It's all a gift.

Thank you Daddy and Mommy for every bit of the love, for exploring and culture and faith and home that you give us.

I love you.