Picture of an old picture

On this date in 1922, my parents were married in the Rehobeth Welsh Presbyterian Church in the little town of Delta, Pennsylvania, where both had lived for most of their growing up years. After the wedding, and a brief time living in Philadelphia, they returned to their roots and settled down to raise their two little daughters in the house where Daddy had grown up.

Eleven years later, one more little girl was added to the family. That little girl was me, and I was blessed with two big sisters, who I am sure viewed me as a cute little plaything at first, something like a doll, and later as a teenage tomboy who, although completely unathletic, always wore a baseball cap on her head and had a bat and glove somewhere close by. Nevertheless, I knew they loved me through those awkward years and still do these many years later.

Our parents have been gone for a long time. Mother died in 1979 and Daddy in 1984, but if they were here today, we would celebrate their anniversary, and I would thank them for raising us in this big house with a big yard in a little town, and I would thank them for the dogs Topsy, Taffy, Misch and numerous cats that shared the house with us.

I would thank them for swings on tree limbs and rocking chairs on the front porch. For dark evenings chasing fireflies in the yard and tracing the constellations in the sky...For Autumn afternoons raking fallen leaves into huge piles...and for the nose tingling smell of burning leaves (because we had never heard of air pollution.)

I would thank them for Sunday dinners after we'd worshiped in the brick church down the street...and for reading the Sunday funny papers to me until I was finally old enough to read them for myself.

For piano lessons and summer camp and making sure I did my homework... I would thank them for all these things and many more. I would sit down with them and remember and remember and remember. And when we finally ran out of words, I would say, "I loved you then, I love you now, and I always will. Happy Anniversary."

I'm not sure exactly when this picture was taken, but I'm guessing it was at Easter in the early 1960s, shortly before they sold this home and moved into an apartment near Baltimore. The picture is framed and sits on a table in my living room.