What a picture of a 50 year marriage this is. Yes, this is the cake topper we had when we got married way back in 1969. It has traveled from apartment to house to house and then clear across the country from Ohio to Alaska and from cannery trailer to house.
It has sat on our headboard in our bedroom since 1979. Yes, it is dusty. And, many of the hearts are broken and chipped. The flowers there at the bottom once were attached to the hearts over the bride and groom’s heads. They are quite dusty, too.
And, isn’t this the way marriage relationships work out? We get dusty (and moldy, truth be told). Our hearts get broken from time to time. The flowers in our lives wilt and fall. And, yet, you will notice the bride and groom are standing tall still. There are no chips or missing parts in them.
Okay, the analogy sort of ends there. Hubby and I each have some missing parts, and we don’t stand as tall as we used to, but our spirits are whole. We have and are learning to take things in stride, to work through things, to mend the broken pieces. How else would we have made it through these past (nearly) fifty years?
Plastic does not bend – it breaks. Evidence those missing pieces here. Spirits, if allowed, bend and not break. It takes work. It takes commitment. (Sometimes it feels like those involved should be committed.) It takes forgiveness and spirited debate. Above all it takes love. I spoke of that in my last post. Always love.
We are thrilled to have made it this far in our journey. This cake topper will appear again at our 50th celebration. It may or may not have been dusted. (so it will not be ON the cake – lol) I trust that we will be able to pull it out again for another major milestone – 55, 60, 65, 70 years??? Perhaps not that many. We are just grateful for these.