Of Diamond Wedding Anniversaries

My parents recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. The 60th wedding anniversary, just like the 75th, is known as a diamond wedding anniversary. I guess people realized that hardly anyone lives long enough to be married 75 years so they figured that 60 years should be called a diamond too.

Not everyone is blessed with the chance to be married for and still be together after 60 years. Heck, some people don't even live to the age of 60. Some marriages don't even make it to six years. So keeping that in mind, our family invited relatives and friends to celebrate my parents' 60th year of wedded bliss and bless more than a week ago.

All five children (my four brothers and I) were all in Manila for the occasion. We had a family photo session, thanksgiving mass, officiated by Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD, a Chinese lauriat dinner (even if we are not Chinese), and a brief program which featured our families, performer Jonathan Badon, and the Electromaniacs band which had relatives and friends dancing. Having celebrated Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year only last February 14, celebrating 60 years of true love with Chinese food seemed appropriate.

In his homily, Fr. Jerry talked about how married people should learn from the lesson of the chopsticks. Anyone who has effectively used chopsticks will appreciate the teachings: only one stick has to move at a time; do not hold the sticks too tight; and the sticks have to be aligned -- one cannot be higher than the other. In the case of married people, the two individuals have to work together, just like the chopsticks. If one is angry (or moving), the other should be steady and just keep cool. Do not hold on too tightly to your spouse. Give the other person space. Lastly, one cannot act like he or she is superior to the other. A marriage is a partnership of equals.

We showed a video during the program and if you are a relative or a friend who did not get to make it to the celebration, please send me e-mail and I will let you know where you can view it. Each child's family delivered a message for mom and dad and our long-time driver, Popoy, made it to the party and spoke too.

All in all, it was a good celebration. Sixty years of togetherness and being in the company of family, relatives and friends who have seen you through good and bad times. Here's looking forward to the 65th year! God willing...