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fearlesstempIn the car on the way to dinner, I asked my parents how old they were when they got married. I could have done the math in my head but I was feeling lazy.
"Twenty-six," my mother said.
"Twenty-seven," my father said.
"Huh," I said. "So as of today, you've been married half your life, Dad."
"Feels like ninety percent," he said, and my mother laughed. "Actually, more like a hundred."
It's typical of my family that my parents took me out with them on their anniversary dinner. We're never normal.
"But it's your anniversary!" I said.
"So?" my mother said.
"But it's so lame!" I said.
"For you or for us?"
"Me. You," I said. "Actually, all of us."
i. the meet cute
My parents met thirty years ago. They've always been kind of vague about it, just saying they met at a party. As I got older and learned more about the 1970s, this kind of freaked me out. Why no more details? Are they just being vague because it's boring? Let's hope so.
A couple of months ago, we went out to dinner and I was asking them about when they got together. It must have been around my mother's birthday, because I asked my father about when he'd known he was going to marry my mother. I had heard the story before. I always thought it was sweet.
"It was pretty early," he said. "Our third or fourth date. We went out to dinner and I was coming back from the men's room and I saw her sitting in the booth waiting for me, and I thought, 'I could marry this girl.' I'd never thought that before."
My mother was always vague and noncommittal with these things. On this night I asked her, "Did you know that quickly?"
"Actually," she said, setting down her wineglass in a way that said she was about to make a big confession, "the night I met your father, it was strange. I had worked with this guy a few years before, and ran into him at this party, and he was talking to me. He was asking me where I worked now and I knew he was about to ask for my phone number, but then I looked over and saw your father talking to your aunt Lynn –"
My jaw most definitely dropped. "Oh my God, you stole Dad from aunt Lynn!"
"No," she said. "She was with your uncle Brian at the time."
"Then why was she talking to Dad?" I said. "Lynn was steppin' out!"
"No, no," my mother said, waving her hand in a bored, dismissive way. "Anyway, I saw him talking to Lynn, and I thought, 'I'd like to talk to that guy.' And so I went over."
"Totally ditched the other guy?"
"Yep," she said.
"Did you elbow Lynn out of the way and stake your claim?"
"Yep," she said.
"And that was it?" I said.
"Pretty much," she said.
My parents dated for three years, got engaged in April of 1977 and married three months later. My mother had one attendant, her sister Lynn, and my father had two. They didn't care about symmetry. My mother spent $75 on her wedding dress and the exact same amount on an elegant hat to go with it instead of a veil. They had a small reception at a really nice hotel and two of my father's groomsmen got thrown in the pool.
They've been the best parents a kid could ask for.
"Twenty-six," my mother said.
"Twenty-seven," my father said.
"Huh," I said. "So as of today, you've been married half your life, Dad."
"Feels like ninety percent," he said, and my mother laughed. "Actually, more like a hundred."
It's typical of my family that my parents took me out with them on their anniversary dinner. We're never normal.
"But it's your anniversary!" I said.
"So?" my mother said.
"But it's so lame!" I said.
"For you or for us?"
"Me. You," I said. "Actually, all of us."
i. the meet cute
My parents met thirty years ago. They've always been kind of vague about it, just saying they met at a party. As I got older and learned more about the 1970s, this kind of freaked me out. Why no more details? Are they just being vague because it's boring? Let's hope so.
A couple of months ago, we went out to dinner and I was asking them about when they got together. It must have been around my mother's birthday, because I asked my father about when he'd known he was going to marry my mother. I had heard the story before. I always thought it was sweet.
"It was pretty early," he said. "Our third or fourth date. We went out to dinner and I was coming back from the men's room and I saw her sitting in the booth waiting for me, and I thought, 'I could marry this girl.' I'd never thought that before."
My mother was always vague and noncommittal with these things. On this night I asked her, "Did you know that quickly?"
"Actually," she said, setting down her wineglass in a way that said she was about to make a big confession, "the night I met your father, it was strange. I had worked with this guy a few years before, and ran into him at this party, and he was talking to me. He was asking me where I worked now and I knew he was about to ask for my phone number, but then I looked over and saw your father talking to your aunt Lynn –"
My jaw most definitely dropped. "Oh my God, you stole Dad from aunt Lynn!"
"No," she said. "She was with your uncle Brian at the time."
"Then why was she talking to Dad?" I said. "Lynn was steppin' out!"
"No, no," my mother said, waving her hand in a bored, dismissive way. "Anyway, I saw him talking to Lynn, and I thought, 'I'd like to talk to that guy.' And so I went over."
"Totally ditched the other guy?"
"Yep," she said.
"Did you elbow Lynn out of the way and stake your claim?"
"Yep," she said.
"And that was it?" I said.
"Pretty much," she said.
My parents dated for three years, got engaged in April of 1977 and married three months later. My mother had one attendant, her sister Lynn, and my father had two. They didn't care about symmetry. My mother spent $75 on her wedding dress and the exact same amount on an elegant hat to go with it instead of a veil. They had a small reception at a really nice hotel and two of my father's groomsmen got thrown in the pool.
They've been the best parents a kid could ask for.
