A Party in the Works!

No, it's not the democratic or republican party, and aren't we glad about that? I am blogging between party planning this week. On Saturday, I am hosting my parents' 40th anniversary party! Most of us kids and grandkids will be here and we are looking forward to it. It's a lot of planning! I've been looking all over for pretty cake napkins and plates and I can't find just the right ones. I'm a little fussy... Anyway, I discovered, quite by accident, that 40th anniversaries are represented by the color "ruby" or red, for you guys out there.
This is after I had already planned the color scheme and ordered the cake from Robaire's. Don't worry, I've called them back and red will be on the cake. So many details....
Now for a trip to the flower shop, another run to the grocery store, and a mega-cleaning session and we'll be good to go.
The menu, you ask? This is where it's a little non-traditional....mom and dad love homemade pizza and that's what they requested. No fuss, no bother, no formalities, just our family hanging out cooking and eating pizza, playing games and being ourselves. I think I can dig that.
This is a second marriage for both of my parents, who were both married young and divorced. Technically, I am the only child of their marriage. My siblings and I are "halves", although the word was never allowed in our home growing up. I'm pretty sure they used it on me most of the time. I was stinky and spoiled and had no right to live, of course! Somewhat true today as well, if you ask some of them!
My parents overcame many obstacles, coming from different backgrounds with lots of baggage, trying to raise each other's kids...I can't even imagine. There wasn't Dr. Phil or ministers to talk to about these things back then, you just did what you thought was best and that was that. They've been through some doozies through the years, that's for sure.
The fact that they have stayed together for this many years tells me what love can cover. When you really hunker down and stick together, for better or for worse, you get the blessing of a strong marriage. Not a perfect, trouble-free marriage, but a marriage that can take a lot of pressure and still not crack. A good lesson for anyone who wants to stay married.
Forty years is a long time with one person. It seems we should be celebrating with the finest cuts of whatever is finest, but instead, we'll be slobbering over pizza and toasting our parents with grape juice in plastic champage cups. That's just who they are.
And who I am is proud to be their daughter....Happy Anniversary mom and dad...I love you! May God continue His work in your lives and in your marriage!