Five
years ago today I wrote a post to mark our forty-fifth wedding anniversary and Grandson#2’s eleventh birthday. In the
years since then, we have sold our home of over forty years and moved down into
the valley, where we are now very happily settled. Today Grandson#2 reaches the
advanced age of sixteen, whilst DH and I pinch ourselves to be sure we aren’t
dreaming that fifty years really have passed since that wet April Monday in
Oxford when the two of us were married.
As
soon as I sat down to try to to think of words to sum up those fifty years, I
was swamped by so many memories, happy, sad, funny, serious, mundane or truly extraordinary,
that I despaired of distilling them into anything shorter than a sizeable book.
Instead I turned, as I do increasingly as the years pass, to images, to the
photographs which have chronicled the fifty years of our life together, as our
children were born, grew up and went out into the world and in their turn found
partners and settled down to produce a new generation.
By
and large these years have been good ones, for which we are both very grateful.
There have been difficulties and sorrows, but they have been balanced by joys
and the satisfaction of work and other interests and now by the contentment of our life together in our seventies. My hope is that these snapshots
will give you a at least a flavour of what those fifty years have meant to us
both.
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| Fifty years ago today |
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| Young and usually scruffy... |
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| ..though we scrubbed up quite well |
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| DS and his very young and inexperienced parents |
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| At the chilly Northumbrian coast with DD and DS |
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| Up in the Welsh hills and still scruffy... |
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| All grown and spruced up |
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| DS's graduation |
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| Grandmother and grandson |
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| Mother and daughter |
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| A very happy family occasion |
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| Another special, happy day |
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| Grandson#1, who is now at university! |
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| Grandson#2 (16 today) with his great-grandmother |
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| Grandson#3, who is now taller than us both. |
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| Our three beloved grandsons |
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| Ordination as deacon 30 years ago this year |
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| Nearly 9 years later, ordination as priest |
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| Three brothers |
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| Five sisters |
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| Fifty years on we're growing old disgracefully... |
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteHeartiest greetings and congratulations for sealing the big five oh! It is times like this that one is most grateful for the invention of the camera, is it not?! The images contain so much, even to the casual observer, of life being lived and embraced. May there be many more years to you both in which to shed a little more disgrace! YAM xx
Thanks so much, Yam. You're absolutely right about the camera. The old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words proved its accuracy yet again when I came to look back over all these years and knew I couldn't begin to describe them in words. From now on every anniversary is a bonus and will be greeted with a little more disgrace. ;)
DeleteCongratulations - love the photos especially the last one. A week today Doug and I celebrate our first Wedding Anniversary. Unfortunately, there is no way we can reach fifty years but we are so thankful for what we have.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan. We love that one too. We don't have many recent photos of the two of us, but DH's brother snapped these and they worked.
DeleteGosh, is it a year already? Time flies. I'm afraid I've been a poor blog follower recently, but I'll try to do better. Happy anniversary for next week.
Congratulations...and what a good way to mark the years. Carry on growing old together disgracefully.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Helen. I enjoyed compiling this and it worked even better than I had hoped. I'm sure we'll have no problem with continuing disgracefulness. :)
DeleteWhat a beautiful post. You have such a lovely family, Perpetua. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jennifer, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Yes, we feel very fortunate in both our close family and also our wider ones. It's fun watching the new generations growing up.
DeleteAbsolutely golden! From the first, to the last memorable photo, you have chronicled a blessed marriage and life, Perpetua. Here is wishing for many more. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteI thought it would appeal to you, Penny. :) Thanks so much for the good wishes. Yes, we have been blessed and are very aware of the fact.
DeleteCongratulations, on 50 years of marriage and a delightful post for us to share. Happy Golden Anniversary! May there be many more years to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Trish. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to compile. :) From now on we're going to celebrate every anniversary as a bonus!
DeleteA happy montage of 50 golden years together - lives well lived, loved, and blessed - wishing you both many years more years together, and yes, carry on disgracefully.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely thing to say, Rosemary. Thank you so much. We have been very fortunate, all things considered, and will go on giving thanks with a bit of disgracefulness thrown in. :)
DeleteMany congratulations to both you & DH! Your photo montage is wonderful and it is good to see you both looking so well in the final photograph. Sending best wishes from sunny North Bohemia!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Ricky. I had great fun going through all the old photos DH had scanned to find the most appropriate ones. We're both feeling very well, so it's good that it shows. :)
DeleteCongratulations! How wonderful and what brilliant photos - excellent xxx
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anny. Old photos really do have a charm all their own, don't they?
DeleteCongratulations to you both!
ReplyDeleteSpindrift51
Thanks, Spindrift. We still can't believe it's been so long. :)
DeleteCongratulations! It was delightful to see all of your photos and share glimpses of your life over the years. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kristie. I had a real trip down memory lane as I sorted through photos for this post, as did DH when he read it. :)
DeleteDear Perpetua, congratulations first and foremost and then just a few words that come to me as I look at these photographs, one by one, a see a summing up--at this point--of a life that has been filled with so much joy as well as all the other emotions of being alive and open to the possibilities life brings. You have embraced your life and it has embraced you. Peace.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Dee. You always make such thoughtful and perceptive comments that I have to go away and ponder them. I have always tried to embrace all that life has brought me. It hasn't always been easy, but it has been worth it.
DeleteCongratulations and best wishes to you and your wonderful family. Every picture illustrates perfectly how much love you all share.
ReplyDeleteMay the next fifty be just as good.
Thanks so much, Ray. I do feel very blessed in my family, even with all the ups and downs that life has inevitably brought along the way. As for the next 50 years, from now on every one is a bonus. :)
DeleteCongratulations. Wishing you many more happy years together.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Annie. We have been very fortunate, but I never take it for granted, as you can imagine.
DeleteHappy day! Congratulations! You wear the time well, the two of you. I enjoyed the photos and the visit back in time - always so interesting. To have reached 50 years together is such a gift. Like any gift, I am sure it has taken some caring-for to keep it bright and shiny. I wish you many more happy years!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Honora, and apologies for taking so long to reply. I was out all day yesterday. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. I certainly enjoyed going back through the photos to compile it. DH and I were in our very early 20s when we married, so we're on the young side for a golden wedding couple. :)
DeleteCongratulations to you on all of your golden anniversary! What a wonderful portrait you have painted of those years by sharing these priceless photos with us. I see so many smiles. I think those smile must mean there has been great joy in your marriage. That alone is a blessing. I especially love that you are celebrating growing old disgracefully. I wish you many, many more golden years together. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Sally. I'm glad you enjoyed the trip through our photo album. :) Yes, we have been fortunate enough to have had many happy times together as a family, despite the inevitable difficulties and sorrows no-one can escape over so many years. As for growing old disgracefully, I doubt DH and I could do anything else!
DeleteCongratulations, I enjoyed each and every pictures..
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed them, thanks.
DeleteWe've got another 4years to go! Your pictures make me realise how blessed we have been.
ReplyDeleteIf you're anything like us, those four years will fly by. :) I too counted my blessings a lot as I compiled this post.
DeleteCongratulations, Perpetua! Fifty years wonderfully lived!I loved hearing about and seeing the pictures of your life with DH! And I love your phrase about "aging disgracefully". It's a goal to which we can all aspire!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathy, and apologies for taking so long to reply. I was away when your comment was posted. Yes, they have been 50 good years by and large and we still can't imagine life without each other. As for growing old disgracefully, I blame Hermione Gingold who first put the thought into my head many years ago with the title of her autobiography "How to grow old disgracefully". :)
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