Wow.  My parents just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  50 freaking years.  That is amazing when you really think about it.  50 years produced 7 kids and 17.5 grandkids.

Try wrapping your head around how many diapers my mother changed over the years?  She is responsible for stepping up at least 250 times with all my pals.  Papa is probably responsible for 1.

50 years and countless trips with kids to the ER, sleepless nights with bad dreams, worrying until they were sick about the kid who didn’t come home,  hundreds of softball games and track meets, dozens of dance recitals, thousands of tears wiped and a million hugs.  That is just a bit of what they have endured…..and they have endured each other.   Well, I should say my mom has endured my dad.

The albino gyno.  The silver bullet.  What a guy.  He got a perm without telling her one time.  She said he looked like George Washington.  She was so embarrassed that she told him she would not be seen with him and he didn’t know what to do.  He decided that sleeping with a pair of pantyhose on his head should do the trick.  Wrong.  My mom said he woke up looking like Bart Simpson.  He also showed up one day with a cherry red corvette because he was feeling old and beat – turned out he had mono but the Corvette stayed.  Let’s not even talk about the time he dyed his hair green for a Packers game and it wouldn’t come out.  Someone told him to get the most vibrant color he should use food coloring.  He was game.  Sounds like a great idea until you go to see your gynecologist and he walks in the door with a head full of what looks like lime sherbert.  These are just the tip of the iceburg.  My dad is awesome in so many ways and my mom just rolls along for the ride.  She calls him her “social director”.  He cannot sit still….ever.  On every family trip he is 17 steps ahead of us.  He has dragged my mother to every corner of the earth and she goes, with a giant smile on her face and a bottle of pepto in her purse.

They have done so much in their 50 years together.  Countless trips to Haiti several times a year to help those less fortunate.  The helped spear head “Friends of Haiti” and work year round with the organization.  They never ask for gifts but if you ever give them something, they will tell you to give money to Haiti.  They always put others before themselves.  They have truly changed so many lives in Haiti.  My father has done hundreds of surgeries. They took care of several boys who came to the states for surgeries and treated them like one of us.  They have had their heart ripped out after sending their sweet Soloman back to Haiti after he lived with them during multiple surgeries.  He was like their 8th child and losing him was hard, especially on my mom.  She has always had so much love to give….to all of us.  She also happens to be the most thoughtful person you will ever meet.  She is the lady that drops off the soup to a sick friend, drops a card in the mail for no reason, shows up with a special gift she saw and thought you had to have it.

My parents really are my best friends.  Is that weird?  My husband tells me all the time that I cannot be upset if our pals grow up and are not obsessed with us like I am with my parents.  I talk to them every day.  EVERY day.  They are more than just parents – they are a counselor when you need advice, a comedian when you need a laugh, a Bed and Breakfast owner when you come home, a social director when you need a vacation, a nanny when you need a break, a 5 star chef when you want the best meal you ever had…..but more than this, they are my parents, my best friends.  My parents are the most amazing people I know.  Our family has had our bumps in the road and the normal ups and downs of life but they keep trucking along.  50 years and going strong.  Mom and Dad, I could not love you more if I tried.  (Trust me, I tried).

Here’s to the next 50!