Honoring the In-Laws

We're hitting the road.

This weekend marks the 50th Wedding Anniversary of my husband's parents.
We will make the long-ish drive to visit for the weekend.  We will go out to dinner.  We will present them with a gift that will make a great memory and that we know they will enjoy.  We will eat cake.

My in-laws' anniversary lands just a couple of days after Valentine's Day.  My husband and I celebrated Valentine's Day in our usual, subtle style, but when all is said and done, the day really means "showing love in special ways."  It's a "wear your heart on your sleeve" day for good, not for the usual meaning of the phrase.  Let your heart out of captivity ... let it roam free to love the one you married, and throw your kids in there, too.

I look at this anniversary celebration, following the one festooned with hearts and flowers, as another day marked by hearts and flowers.  Marked by the same hope many people feel as Valentine's Day approaches and progresses.  Love has a future.  Love doesn't begin on one certain day, but gathers momentum in small ways.  It builds and continues to build through years of varying emotional states, life experiences and consequences of actions and words.  Love brings people together, and it's love that makes them stay that way.

If these two people hadn't agreed together to join in holy matrimony, I would not have the husband I hold dear, whom I love more than life.  I wouldn't have the life I have, the children we have produced.

We will make the journey and we will look past the idiosyncrasies that often bog down our thoughts, that can sway our decision on whether or not to shave hours off of a hard-won weekend to spend it on a highway for a day's worth of visiting.

We will celebrate the beginning of a lifetime of love, and honor its endurance.  While we celebrate, we teach our children a few things about honoring parents.

You make the time.
You make the trip.
You think about the good things.
You take action to show honor.
You avoid complaining, even when things go sour.
You persevere.
You understand differences of opinion.
You don't take anything personally.
You reflect Christ humbly.
You realize that you will be the parent one day.
You love now, because you might not have the chance later.

Enjoy your weekend.  Maybe even honor a parent or two along the way?