Marriage: There is Harvest

I know it wasn't always easy for my grandparents -- walking down the church aisle to exchange life-long vows before most teenagers walk down the aisle to gather a high-school diploma.

I know there was struggle.

Struggle to make ends meet.

Struggle to keep loving when loving was tough.

Struggle to grow children, a business, a livelihood, a love, a life together.

But born out of struggle was determination, was grace. And out of determination, grace was born commitment and success, new life and and New Life, new love and New Love.

And when it's all tallied up -- the years of hardship and those of abundance, the years of loss and those of gain, the years of  less and the years of more --

when the 50 years of marriage and vows have been sown, tilled, watered, sunned, vines tied and soil tended

there is a harvest.



There is a legacy.




















There is celebration.



And there is gratitude from one generation to the oldest generation for showing us the fruits of such labor and helping us set our sights on the harvest.

Happy 50th anniversary, Papa and Grandma!