[ happy anniversary, mom and dad ]
I'm a day late with this but yesterday (June 19th) was my parents' 40th wedding anniversary! Congratulations and happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!
I spent a lot of yesterday thinking about you and the wonderful example you have been to me in the area of marriage. I remember when I was engaged and living at home (while finishing up my last year of college), Dad was bishop of a USU married student ward and we had so many conversations about the issues that came up among his ward members. We had a great many conversations about money management and communication. Those conversations have been rehashed many times in conversations between me and Steven. We learned a lot of important lessons from remembering that counsel that helped us tremendously in our own marriage, especially during the unemployment years.
Another great example was how you could disagree without being unpleasant about it. You respected each other's opinions and ideas. You supported each other in whatever you did. That has also been valuable for me and Steven.
One really important thing was how you stood together on issues (whatever--dating, use of car, etc. etc.) so we kids couldn't play one of you off the other. At least it never worked for me. Steven and I have done the same thing with our children.
This has more to do with parenting than marriage (but then again, we don't believe they're mutually exclusive) but your example of high expectations for us children has also been quite valuable. I have often called upon Allen family values to explain to my children why we do things the way we do (really minor stuff like "why do I have to do my homework", to major stuff like "why can't I wear a bikini swimsuit"). And they all come from my growing up years.
40 years--wow, in this day and age that's quite an accomplishment. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad. May you have many more happy years together and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful example of what marriage should be.
Love,
Merilee
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