60 Years

This past weekend I went to Utah to celebrate my parents' 60th wedding anniversary. Yes, sixty years. Six zero. Six decades. A silver anniversary plus another 10 years. We didn't make a huge deal out of it by inviting the whole world, but we did want to have as many of their children there as possible. All six of their children were there, several grandchildren, and about half of their great-grandchildren.

Even though all six of us were there, we were only all together for one evening, so we had to make the best of it and make sure we captured that moment on film. The meeting point was the rest home where my sister lives.

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And that, friends, was the most formal part of the whole shebang. I mean, that was really the only thing on the agenda. After that the weekend was pretty much a free-for-all. People got together when they could, various children and grandchildren showed up, and we just basically hung out together as much as we could. We got reacquainted with each other, and in some cases, met relatives we hadn't yet. I met my nephew's wife and their 6 (extremely intelligent, and it goes without saying, somewhat precosious) children and was charmed by their family. I got to know another a niece-in-law better and grew to appreciate her more. I hung out with another niece who I love but who lives too far away from me to for my liking. She's only a few years younger than I am, and she's just fantastic. And I hung out with my sisters as much as I could and we all grew to love each other more. At least, I think we did. I know I did, and I hope they did.

Family. Not the people you necessarily choose to be with during your mortal life, but they're what you've been given. It's taken me awhile to figure out that mine's better than most, so I'd better make the best of it while I can.