4 Decades of Love, Family and Horsepower

Today truly marks 40 years of everything my blog embraces: love, family and horsepower. Why is that, you ask?

 

Today is my mom and dad's 40th wedding anniversary.

 

It's still a lot for me to take in. I can barely imagine how they felt when they sat down this morning with their coffee, news on the television, eating their Sunday breakfast my mom has always made...it was just the same as every other day, but it wasn't. 40 freaking years...who knows what they talked about.

 

They've been through it all...after my dad left the Navy, where he was an airplane mechanic, they truly started from scratch. Accepting help from no one, they lived in crappy houses infested with bees while my parents worked crap jobs to make ends meet. Finally my dad landed a job in the coal mines, a "good" job for back in the 70's while my mother worked at Sears selling appliances, which surprisingly wasn't exactly a woman's job back then. I guess my defiance for girly things and jobs comes from her.

 

Eventually they worked their way up and are now their own business owners, like I mentioned in my second post. I guess my parents never really decided to do anything the easy way, though, considering they got married when my mom was 17 and my dad was 19. Yet here they are...they truly defied all odds and statistics. They are my heroes in every aspect of life and encompass everything I want this blog to be about.

So here they are, wayyy back in the day. Probably around 1972 or so. My mother was about 15 and my dad was around 17 years old. I found this picture a few years ago, and when I showed my parents my dad's first reaction was, "There's my old GTO in the background! I miss that car..," yep, typical gearhead...

 

And on this day 40 years ago in Key West, Florida...

My dad's words of wisdom to Andy about our wedding day: "Do NOT let anyone touch your car. Our friends decorated my car with shoe polish and it baked into the paint in the 100 degree weather. It completely destroyed the paint." And lucky for us all, someone took a photo of his 1971 Monte Carlo in all its "just married" glory.

 

So what cool stuff was happening back in 1974??? Upon doing some research I came up with...nothing, really. A really cool blog I came upon called Car Lust even wrote a post called 1974: It Was A Very Bad Year. According to That Car Guy, the blogs author, 1974 consisted of the Mustang II, really ugly car bumpers, and the original release of the movie Gone in 60 Seconds. I also discovered that the Toyota Corolla was introduced to the car world...

So besides my parents getting married, 1974 sucked.

 

And now, 40 years later Andy and I were lucky enough to have dinner with my parents at a local restaurant, DiSalvo's Station. It's an old converted train station located in Latrobe, Pa.

What marital advice was given to us by a couple who has withstood well...basically everything?

My dad's advice consisted of this:

• Don't go looking for something better. Because it's not out there.
• If you marry each other for the right reasons, nothing else matters.
• During the bad times, you need to go back to why you ended up here in the first place. Remember this right now, and you can get through anything.

My mom's advice:

• If you put each other's happiness before you're own, you'll always be happy.
• If you take actions while thinking about the other's feelings, you'll never be wrong.
• Communicating with each other is important. If you two talk to each other, you'll be just fine.

And on top of all that, my entire life I have seen my parents do nothing but support each other. They work through everything together. Whether it's making my dad sandwiches on race day, or listening to him obsessively talk through a problem, I have always seen my mother stand by my dad's side through everything. And my dad does the same for her. They stick together, through everything in life.

 

My parents have taught me that getting through the tough times makes the good times that much sweeter. And I truly hope Andy and I can have a marriage as successful and loving as theirs.

 

So, this post is for you, mom and dad. Congratulations on 40 years.

Here's to another 40 more. I love you.