Love is a many splendored thing

Not only is today Father's Day, but it is also my parent's 29th wedding anniversary.

I'm a little upset that we aren't able to celebrate in the usual style, but with all of the renovating and packing going on, there just isn't as much time for the appropriate celebration.



Let me explain.



Every since I can remember, my siblings and I would always put together a show of sorts for my parent's anniversary. I think the fact that their anniversary is the first day of summer meant that we were always out of school and eager to find something to occupy our time. Anniversary celebration it is!



So in honor of their 29th anniversary, I'll re-visit some of the best of the Genn repetoire.



There are many memorable performances over the years, but two stand out vividly in my mind. I am not sure what year it was but we had gathered everyone in the living room to get ready for our opening act. My brother, Jason, was dressed as a mime (a costume I had from a past Halloween) and did a little performance to open us up. After his bit my sister, Erin, got up to give the main attraction for the evening - the speech.



I feel I need to emphasize the overall serious preparation that we put into these performances. We were VERY into them and our parents were absolute saints to sit through them year after year.



Anyway, Erin got up to give her speech and after each word or so she would echo so that it sounded like we were in a large ampitheater. Example: "Today, today, today. Is the day, day, day. That we celebrate, celebrate, celebreate. Diana and Jim, Jim. Jim." I know, you can laugh, it's okay.



The other vivid memory is more recent. For my parent's 25th wedding anniversary we went all out. I offered to cook dinner for everyone and encouraged my parent's to go out to the backyard to relax until dinner was ready. I had been planning a surprise for them, that our entire family would come over to celebrate that night - and they had no idea!



A few different times they wanted to come in, but Jason kept them occupied in the backyard until everyone arrived. We all waited in the kitchen and then as they walked in and saw all of us - of course they were surprised! They had no idea, and I felt all the more happy that I had pulled it off!



Dinner was great but the real treat was our performance after dinner. My sister's best friend, Jenn was there and she took part in our performance as well. We decided to have a few musical numbers in this one. We all sang Queen's, "Somebody to Love" and then I serenaded them with Jessica Simpson's, "I'm Gonna Love you Forever." We're not good singers, in case you were wondering.



Next we re-enacted each of the large and impactful moments of their past 25 years. Getting engaged, getting married, having each of their three children, a significant storm my Dad had been in, my Mom's penchant for re-decorating and painting, up until the present day.



The best part was at the end we played one more song and my Dad, the true romantic that he is, grabbed my Mom's hand and got her up to dance in our backyard with all of our family watching - and you could just tell in that instant it was just the two of them sharing their love for one another all over again.



I'm sorry that we won't have a performance for this year, but that just means next year for their 30th we can really aim to top ourselves!



I love my parents dearly and admire the great love that they each have for one another after all of these years. They are truly in love with each other more each day and it is so obvious - I love it.



Happy 29th Anniversary Mom and Dad!