November 6th

As I mentioned yesterday, November 6th held a lot meaning for my family beyond the election.  It also marked my parents' 30th wedding anniversary, which is a pretty incredible milestone. Since November 6, 1982, they moved to Australia and back, bought their first (and forever) home, had 4 amazing (ahem) children plus one adoptive Norwegian daughter, more pets than I can count (including hamsters, birds, fish, gerbils, hermit crabs, etc. beyond the cats and dogs), made many important career moves and supported each other through the loss of too many loved ones. Through it all, they have remained each others' best friends and managed to stay incredibly in love.

My beautiful parents

They got engaged after a year of friendship and just 4 months of dating on July 4, 1982 and were married 4 months later.  As the saying goes, "when you know, you know," and in this case, they truly did. My dad still calls my mom his girlfriend from time to time and I remember correcting him when I was little, reminding him that she was in fact his wife.  Now that I'm older, I understand the sentiment.  Through 30 years of ups and downs, they have never lost that original twinkle and it has been an incredible example for me and all of my siblings of what a loving relationship looks like.  They have set the bar very high but also provided the model for how to clear it, which is really an amazing gift.

Mom and Dad - thank you for loving each other through all of these years and for beginning our family 30 years ago yesterday. Happy Anniversary and cheers to many, many more happy years together!

P.S. - I am SO glad that America gave you the gift you were hoping for!