Once Upon a Time...

To my dearest parents,
     Today is your anniversary! Twenty-one years!!! You guys have been together longer than you lived with your families. Most people now-a-days don't last this long. marriage isn't always smiles and roses, I know that to have a successful marriage you have to work at it. I have been blessed to live in a home with parents who strive everyday to have this happy marriage and a happy home.
     You two may not have a perfect marriage all the time, but who really does? The difference between your marriage and the marriages of the world is that you have a perfect knowledge of what your marriage can become. You have been my perfect example of what a real marriage should be; two people who love each other, who fight and get mad, and who work out their differences because they understand that it's more important to try and work things out then to not try at all.
     Out here are school I have met so many people who are wary of marriage and parenthood because they saw how unhappy their parents were in marriage. They saw first hand the effects of divorce. They felt the brunt of their parents unhappiness in the way their parents raised them. They are afraid that they will have a marriage like their parents. They are afraid their marriage will end in divorce. They are afraid of becoming the parents they had. I am not afraid of marriage and parenthood because of the examples you set for me.
     I know that the two of you didn't have the best home life growing up. I know that that was something you wanted to change together for your posterity. I am living proof that you did. You have stopped the cycle of abuse, the cycle of divorce, the cycle of unhappiness. You have raised children who love God, who love each other and who love you. We have been raised with moral, academic and personal standards. Together, you set the standard of marriage higher than your parents did and because of that, we will continue to set the standard higher. Your marriage has been the biggest factor in how successful your children are.
     I will never be able to explain to you in words how grateful I am for your example. When I am married I will continue on in the standards you have taught me. I can only hope that my future husband and I will be as successful as you. Thank you for your example. Thank you for doing everything you could do be the parents you are today. Thank you for loving me and helping me to stay on the right path. Thank you for keeping an eternal perspective in your marriage. I love you. I love that you have been married for so long. I hope the next 21 years are even happier than the last ones have been. Congratulations you guys. <3