My parents celebrated their 50 years of marriage. My brother, sister and I are so thankful for this rare and special blessing. We are so blessed to have our parents in their old age while they are still strong, healthy and youthful. In turn, my siblings and I are still young and full of energy.
My parents made the trip to the US once again to celebrate their anniversary with us and their grandchildren. They just wanted to spend the day together over lunch. Little did they know that my siblings, sister in law and I were planning something. Yes, we planned just two weeks before the day of the event but it does not matter now. It was a big success.
I will not go sentimental on this post but I just want to remember the day. One week before the anniversary was when my sister, sis in law and I started to really talk about it. Two days before the party, we were not sure if we could pull it off. I told my brother, sister and sister in law that as long as we have plenty of food and guests, those were all that matter. Who cares about the decorations?! Texts between me and my siblings were flying all week. My sister and sis in law were busy buying clothes for our parents who still were not sure what was going on. They thought (and we let them believe) that we are doing all of this for my sis in law's dad's birthday which was the day before my parents' anniversary party. Since I live an hour away, I really could not do much but be the cheerleader and sounding board. My sister and sis in law planned the menu and ordered all the food, and pretty much the entire party from invitations to decorations.
On the day of the party, Mr Sweetie and I were put to work. We picked my parents up to drop them off at church, then we picked up all the food from the restaurants. These were our contributions which were really nothing compared to the amount of work that my sister and sis in law put in.
Then Mr Sweetie and I walked into my brother and sis in law's backyard. It was transformed into a venue that Martha Stewart would have approved of. There were gold flower centerpieces. Pictures of my parents' wedding day 50 years ago were framed and strategically placed at the buffet table. Gold banners were swaying in the wind. Gold coins as favors were in a basket that was also painted gold. And that lovely cake of white and gold fondant! Thank God for my sister in law who put this all together, and who treats my parents as her own.
There was so much food both from what my sis in law cooked, ordered from the restaurant and what people brought even though it was not a pot luck. We are lucky to have generous friends. It is also inherent to the Filipino culture to bring food to parties. There was so much dessert and Filipino delicacies such as Filipino tamales, suman and cassava cakes. Two more pretty cakes were brought in by friends.
Typical to a Filipino party, there was karaoke. A friend sang "Through The Years" which started out as a joke between myself and my siblings, sis/bro in law as the party's theme song. My parents danced to this song which was such a sight that really touched everyone's heart.
My dad asked me to pray before we started eating. Before the party ended, our pastor prayed for my parents and our entire family.
My mom commented that they were blessed with a beautiful day of cold but sunny weather. It was as if that gorgeous day of blue skies was specially made just for my parents' celebration as it had been raining and gloomy days before and after the anniversary.
When all the guests left, we all pitched in to clean up -- my mom, my siblings, Mr Sweetie, and sis/bro in law. Then we all sat down including the grandchildren and ate again. We ate the cakes and talked about how the day has been so successful. My brother in law was happily intoxicated. My dad told Mr Sweetie that he is also his son. Every one was just feeling elated on the success of the event that we narrowly pulled off.
Before we left we made our parents pose with the presents they got. Mr Sweetie and I left to go home with lots of leftovers.
My parents were happy and proud that their children honored them with this party. It was a casual, laid back party but full of love and cheers from family, friends and people who matter.
Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with the most loving parents. I pray for many more years of family togetherness.
January 27, 2018
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