DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

Last Friday night, I bear witness to one of life’s most unforgettable and endearing moments, that of my grand uncle’s (mother side) 60th wedding anniversary. The event was actually a family affair, an extended family affair to be more precise. All known family members and relatives were gathered together to celebrate the unwavering union of two people that has lived through life’s thick and thin, in sickness and in health, in prosperity and in trying times, through war (World War Two) and tumult for the last 60 years. As the night progresses, we were treated to the visual retelling of their family history, as well as story – telling, songs, and poetry recitals by my grand uncle’s grandchildren (I’m not included by the way). There was such warmth in the affair that one would feel that one is all part of a big happy family. Speaking of family, my grand uncle has six kids, all grown up, married, had kids and had stable careers or business. One of the grandchildren has actually gotten married and if things went well, my grand uncle and grand aunt could very well be a great grandparents soon enough. Anyway, the climax of the affair was really the visual retelling of their 60 years of being married to each other and the surprising thing was it was not about the vacations that my grand uncle and grand aunt spent together nor about the things they do together rather the highlights of their married life was all about their children, all six of them and their grandchildren. One could see all those pictures of my mother’s cousins growing up from their baby pics to their kiddie years then to their high school grad pics, then their college grad pics, then to their wedding picture, then the birth of their children (the grandchildren). All this seemed surreal because everything seemed to have happened in an instant. 60 years in just an hour. I can’t tell what my grand uncle and my grand aunt were thinking that night but I bet they were probably reminiscing about the past, the whole 60 years and how they have “breeze” through it. They may be thinking about their concerns in the beginning of their shared life, of their worries of their kids, their future, the next day, the next month, the next year, the year after that, the next ten years……. Of their hopes and dreams, of the hardships and joys that they been through. All of these now are moot to them and maybe, they will find that at times that it was silly as their worries back then are unfounded. I don’t know either if they are satisfied with what they had done for the last 60 years together or that they just simply feel elated neither do I know if they felt that they had lived a wonderful 60 years together and counting but for everybody else at the party that night, my grand uncle and my grand aunt do live a wonderful life so much so that one, actually I felt that spending my life with somebody I love and care for the next 60 years is worth it and to look back at it afterwards………. My grand uncle and my grand aunt are two of the luckiest person that I known and I wish that I’ll be that lucky.