Celebrating Mr. and Mrs. Dewey, Love, and Marriage

Today marks my parents’ anniversary of 38 years of being married. Most people I tell that to say, “wow, that’s a long time” and I have to agree. 38 years seems like a long time but when I sit here and I think about people who boast 50 years of being married, well now THAT is a long time. My parents were high school sweethearts (common in their day) and got married when they were just barely boasting the age twenty.. If I would have gotten married at the same age Mom did, I would have already been married for 5 years. Oooff.. That’s scary!

Here there are.. Newly married Mr. and Mrs. Dewey. This is my favorite photo of the two of them, to date. And you know why? Because I look at this photo and I see love. I see their love. And even after 38 years, the trials and the tribulations, I look at them now and I still see this love. I literally could not ask for two better role models to teach me about finding that perfect person to spend your life with and how to make a marriage last. Because I know there were times when it would have been easier to call it quits, but instead they endured. And you know what, I think they love each other even more now because of it.

They’ve taught me that being married isn’t easy.. It takes trust, it takes compromise, it takes dedication, but most of all.. it takes having a relationship with God and putting your hardships in His hands. Because we are only human, we stumble, we struggle, and we make mistakes. They’ve also taught me about working together alongside your spouse in a business.. If you think being in a marriage is hard enough, working together is even harder. Day in and day out, through the sometimes 14, 16, maybe more hour days, they build their lives. It wasn’t easy. I remember Mom telling me she would go down to the butcher shop at 11 PM, just to make sure Dad was still there and that he was okay. Where they are today and the life I lived was thanks to the hard work of the two of them.

They struggled to conceive and have children. It took them 13 years to have me and then 5 to have my brother. And we’ve always grown up knowing that we were miracles for my parents. The photo in the top left (Mom with the 80’s hair) she was pregnant with me. We had our struggles, afterall, teenage girls are never easy to deal with. But around the time I hit 18, I finally begun to realize all the blessings in my life. How seriously lucky I am to have these two as parents.

I couldn’t have asked for two better role models to teach me about marriage, about love, and about maintaining both of those. And I think 38 years (and counting) attests to that. Through being married young, through building Chico Locker & Sausage Co. and through raising two children, their relationship withstood the tests of life. Sitting here, writing the lesson I’ve learned from them, and looking at all these photos, it brings tears to my eyes. Tears of longing for seeing them both daily, tears of joy for how happy I am for the two of them, tears of appreciation and extreme blessings that these two are MY parents. I am so proud to call Mr. & Mrs. David Dewey MY parents. I couldn’t have been blessed with better ones. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. And I know I don’t say thank you enough, but THANK you.. For all you’ve taught me about love and marriage. I love you two!