Once upon a time, April 11, 1969, to be exact, my Mom and Dad had their first date. As Mom tells it…

It was a hot one from the get go. My Grandma, Arlene Chrest, was at the kitchen window doing dishes, as Mom was at the Crosby hospital with Susan because she had a carbuncle on her neck. Grandma yelled, “That boy is here, but he never came to the door.” WHAT! Well it so happened that my Dad was doing one of his favorite chores, taking out the garbage and lighting it up in the burn barrel. Dad always liked a little splash of gasoline on his fires. Maybe too much gasoline? It splashed up his arm and around his neck, and when Donavon drove in the yard and stepped out of his Roadrunner, he heard someone yelling. Dad was rolling around on the ground trying to get his sweatshirt off that was on fire. Donavon took his Burke Central Panthers letterman’s jacket off, wrapped it around Dad, and put the fire out. We had come out of the house to see where “that boy” had went, and helped Donavon load Dad into the Roadrunner, and we sped away to the Crosby hospital. We met Mom somewhere along the road, on her way home from Crosby, so she turned around to head back with yet another patient at St Luke’s. Dads burns were bad enough to keep him in the hospital for a week, so on prom night, the following week, Donavon and I drove over to Crosby to see him. It sure was an exciting first date, like I said, it was a hot one.

We don’t know it at the time, a memory has not yet had time to form a narration, the pen has yet to be put to paper or the brush to canvas, but every love story has a beginning. A first strike against the anvil of time that sometimes sparks the forging and unfolding of something beautiful, something durable, something timeless.

This Saturday, December 18th, Mom and Dad will celebrate 50-years of their something beautiful, durable, and timeless. Something that has grown and glowed brighter throughout the years as the winds of change have swirled and whirled about. The North Dakota wind met it’s match with these two.

From that first-date to this, many North Dakota sunsets have settled into the horizon west of the place we call home. Like those sunsets, Mom and Dad’s love for one another has always made me pause. Pause in awe of the daily beauty of two people moving through life together. Together in love.

If you find yourself in Lignite this Saturday, swing by The 109 Club and lend your presence to the celebration scheduled to commence at 4:00. We don’t schedule ending times. Mom always said we weren’t smart enough to know when to call it night. So it goes.

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad. 50-years…looks good on you two.