Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

My mom and dad celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last January 4, 2007. However being the great parents that they are, the skipped any kind of celebrations because they thought of their children first.

The past year has been a great as well as a hard year for my family. It was great because I was getting Myozyme, yet difficult because it entailed a lot of sacrifices from them. We were at the hospital twice a month for the entire year. That entailed expenses that weren’t there in the previous years. My parents had to sacrifice a lot.

My treatments will continue at least for the next few months. As such my parents deemed it responsible to save whatever extra money they had to make sure that I would continue getting my treatments. Even though it’s their 30th year of marriage, a significant milestone by anyone’s standards, they just decided to celebrate it quietly. No frills, no fanfare. It was enough for them to know that they are still very much inlove today as they were 30 years ago.

You would know how great a person is by how many people care about them. My parents are indeed great. My brother and I have been thinking of how we could celebrate our parent’s anniversary. But even before we could think of something, my aunt from the states already had her mind in gear. She wrote to both my brother, my cousin and I. She said that it would be a great idea if we could throw a surprise anniversary party for my mom and dad. She would help us out. She just requested that we do it when she and my uncle arrive in Philippines so they could be there as well. So the scheming began…

I started putting together the plan. I told my mom’s sister and brother about what we were planning and they immediately jumped on board. They helped look for a place where we could hold the party at. We eventually settled on the Tower Club as the venue. It happened that my mom’s brother is a member there. He agreed to let us use his membership for the party.

So on Jan 27, 2007 7:30 p.m., 23 days after the day of my parents anniversary they strolled into the Tower Club not knowing that there were 70 family members and close friends waiting for them, ready to shout “Happy 30th Anniversary!”. All along they thought that they were just going to have dinner with my mom’s brother and my dad’s brother and wife.

They were shocked!

We had a mini-program for the night. My brother was the emcee. He made a short presentation on the past 30 years. From the wedding, early years of marriage life and all the way to the present. We had a priest on hand to give a prayer and for them to renew their vows. With tearful eyes and as much if not more love than ever before my mom and dad both said “I do” once again after 30 years of married bliss.

My paternal grandmother gave a short speech, followed by my mom’s eldest brother to represent her side of the family, I was the last one to give a speech to represent my brother and I. To finish it off the priest gave our family a blessing. A buffet dinner followed after.

Several of my uncle’s friends agreed to entertain us that night. They provided an acoustic guitar player, a saxophone player and a singer. Needless to say they were fantastic. It was a fun night. They got several of the guests to sing. Even my brother!

All in all it was a great night for a great couple. My mom and dad have sacrificed a lot in the past few years. Especially for me behalf. All of which was done without making us feel that they were sacrificing. I never heard them say, I’m giving up this or that then making us feel bad about it. They loved their family more than themselves and did everything they could to make sure that we all had a decent life.

Like what I said during my speech, “when I was a kid, I dreamed of becoming an architect of businessman. However when I grew up my dreams changed. I dream of becoming the man that my father is and to find someone like my mom to spend the rest of my life with. My brother and I don’t have material wealth but we have the best parents in the world. I’ve grown to admire a lot of people over the years but no one comes a close second as to the admiration I have for my mom and dad”.

Thanks to my aunts and uncles for making this celebration a reality. We could not have done it without you. It was a perfect celebration. Nothing too fancy but still worthy of such a momentus event. Thanks to everyone who made it that night. Thanks for making it a wonderful party.

Mom and dad, thank you for the past 30 years. Thank you for making our family what it is today. I continue to pray for your health, happiness and wealth. May God continue to bless you always.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *