Growing up in a small town, one of the highlights was getting your picture in the local paper. Whether it was for athletics, weddings, engagements, or anniversaries, being in the paper was the thrill of the “Life” section for the local readers.

I remember as a kid, looking at the pretty young girls announcing their engagements or the beautiful dresses of the blushing brides . . . but one thing I noticed was how “old” the folks were who had published a photo announcing their fifty year wedding anniversary.

Maybe it was due to my youthful, untrained eyes that their faces appeared ancient. Did I know anyone that old who had been married THAT long? Fifty years seemed like an eternity!

Fast forward to December 28, 2010. My parents got married in 1960. That’s doesn’t seem like eons ago! Had fifty years clicked off that fast for my parents? And wait a minute; they didn’t look anywhere near as old as those folks in the paper growing up.

But fifty years together had passed and there they were, still as in love as the day they met all those years ago in San Antonio, Texas. Both my parents were in the Army, mom as a nurse and dad as a food inspector. Three months after they met, they eloped and the rest is history.

I marvel at enduring love. I marvel at my parents. Both in their mid-seventies, they proclaim they will celebrate another fifty!

I’m not sure if celebrating fifty years with my partner will come to pass since we aren’t married yet, but I sure am proud to be the product of a fifty year love that gets stronger as the years go by.