Over a year ago, my siblings and I (Jon, Dennis and Debra) started talking about throwing my parents a party to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Off and on throughout the year, we talked about things, but didn’t really get going until October.
Jon provided the party supplies, including balloons and Rolos (gold foil covered) to weight them down. Dennis provided the sparkling cider for the toast and much of the muscle to move things around during setup (his son, Aaron and daughters, Ashely and Audrey), and Debra provided the cake and food.
Along with Diana’s help, I produced a DVD slideshow that featured photos from their very very early years, along with sound that we played during the dinner.
Our gift to them was a large print of us four siblings. Interesting story, that. Diana took the original picture of me, Jon (who lives in Baltimore) and Debra (who lives in Sterling VA). Since Dennis lives in Michigan, we asked a photographer there to take some photos of him and send us the files. He did so and Diana worked her magic and stripped the photo into the picture of the three of us to create a four-sibling picture. It was a beautiful photo.
When we got to the church where we were throwing the party, everyone almost immediately pitched in and started setting up tables, chairs and everything else. After about two hours of setting up and testing the audio/video equipment, everyone parted ways to get ready (Dennis was staying in a hotel and Debra had to take Andy, her son, to a doctor’s appointment).
When we got back, we finished the setups and the kitchen staff was preparing the meal. Everything was in place.
To pull this off as a surprise, we had to keep our presence a secret. So all of us and our families (except for Debra) had to hide in a back room. I found a chair that was about a third of the size of any other chair… sitting in it for two minutes was about 90 seconds too much.
When we all appeared at the opening, mom and dad were visibly moved. We each gave a little toast which was followed by dinner, music and some fellowship. Each of us spent a little time talking with mom and dad. It was very nice.
After dinner, we started the DVD, which chronicled their growing up years, their early marriage and many of the memories of the kids and growing up. At the end of the DVD, the last image is the one of us four kids that Diana had taken. When the full-size version of the picture was presented, mom and dad both were very moved. I was pretty emotional myself, just seeing how happy they were.
You see, it was the first time in their wedding history that they’ve had a formal picture of all four of their kids.
We spent the rest of the evening taking a family picture, which I’ll share at another time, then going to their home and exchanging a few gifts and talking about more growing up memories. It was one of the most enjoyable visits I’ve had with all my siblings, their spouses and children.
I will never forget it.