70 years of marriage. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought it was a myth. But 70 years of marriage for my Grandparents is exactly what we celebrated this week. For over 70 years they have been lovers, parents, business partners, friends, artists, bowlers, grandparents, golfers, travelers and great-grandparents...just to mention a few.

My Grandfather still gets tears in his eyes when he tells the story of the moment he fell in love with my Grandmother. “She opened the door to the stoop where I was standing and with light shining behind her she looked as if she were an angel”, told every time as if it were the first. Grandpa can’t fall asleep at night until she is laying next to him. Grandma told me that they hold each other’s hands every night as they fall sleep.

But don’t get the impression that my grandparents are all love, hugs and kisses (even though there is a lot of that). At 90 and 93 years old they still live at home just the two of them, in Florida and still go to the theater and drive themselves to dinner. Did I mention that they are 90 and 93??

My Grandparents have always been active. They were champion bowlers and golfers and were even known to be recognized around town for beating competitors 20 years younger then themselves. Grandpa can speed read a book faster than I can, carves marble sculptures without the use of any power tool and plays Wii Bowling with my father. My grandma is an amazing cook, crafty jokester, master card player and computer wiz; she Skype’s with the whole family, plays virtual card games and sends out some of the most face reddening emails I have ever read. They must have swam in the fountain of youth but they have yet to disclose it’s location.

This year they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. I’ll tell you, these kids must really like to party; we celebrated their 65th anniversary and had to get right on planning the 70th. We have all decided that it will be the Grandkid’s turn to plan the 75th.

We chose that the best way to get us all together would be on a cruise. It was a 4 night cruise that took us from Fort Lauderdale to Cozumel Mexico, Key West and back. Grandma Florie and Grandpa Mike brought their three children and their loved ones Linny and George, Gil and Lucinda and Steve and Christine. Next came the grandchildren: Leslie, Evan and Vicky, my sister Debra, Dana and myself and Ofer. Bringing up the rear were the great-grandchildren: Cameron, Cole and Veronica. The amazing thing is there are more grandchildren and great grandchildren that unfortunately couldn’t make the cruise.

The second night of the cruise my Aunt Linny and Uncle George arranged an incredibly touching recommitment ceremony complete with a flower girl, an heirloom chuppa, breaking of the glass, and a champagne toast. The 5 grandchildren all stood above Grandma and Grandpa to hold the chuppa and the rest of the family faced them. Uncle George led a beautiful ceremony.

My Grandparents had not planned on what they would say at the ceremony but within 10 seconds they had the whole room in tears. Grandpa says, “You Florie Darling, you’re my whole life. It’s always has been, it always will be. My heart is in your hands. It beats for you. And every beat says, I love you, I love you. And I’ll always love you. More so now than ever.”. My grandmother responded, “ Mike, I love you for what you are, and everything you are. And especially for the promise that you kept to make my children legal.”

Priceless

The love, respect, devotion and gratitude they expressed toward each other reminded all of us that we were apart of something so special that had started almost a century ago with a young man falling in love with a beautiful young lady. From that first choice to be together they have created an entire world. I have never seen two people more in love. Their lives were not without hardships but they say that the place in life that they are in now is the most special of all. Everyday, every moment together is a gift.

We docked in two locations: Cozumel, Mexico and Key West, Florida. Ofer and I were the quintessential tourists in both places. We saw only what was right off the dock. The real joy of the trip was to have the family all together. The trip gave my family a chance to better get to know Ofer and Ofer to better get to know them. I finally got to meet my cousin’s daughter Veronica who was the reason why the word ‘adorable’ was created. I also spent some time with my cousins Cameron and Cole. I knew the boys when I was living in New York. I would crash at their place with their parents when I was in desperate need of family and an escape from the city. I hadn’t seen them in about 5 years and it was amazing to see what great young men they have become.



We tried our darndest to take a little time with each group, family and person on the trip but it was much tougher than we expected. I really wished we had more time all together! But it was nice to have some time to connect especially knowing that we may not be seeing most of my family members until the wedding.

Ofer and I felt so lucky to be able to witness something as special as a 70th wedding anniversary. And what’s more....a 70th wedding anniversary between a couple who is more madly in love than the day they walked down the aisle together. Our dream is to be able to have the two of them at our wedding next year. Hopefully the luck, love and passion that they have for each other will spill over into our lives and they can watch a couple begin their walk to hopefully 70 years of our own wedded bliss.