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Thread: Congratulations

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh

    Congratulations

    Oh, what the heck. Lavabe congratulated us on the "welcome" thread so I thought, why not? If we can have threads about meat loaf and leg shaving, then I would start one congratulating ourselves on celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary tonight. So, there it is, congratulations to us for 30 years of (mostly) happy marriage. As I wrote in a card to my lovely (and tolerant and patient) sweetheart, marriage is not all love, friendship, happiness, prosperity and sweet talk. This has been a serious, life-long undertaking and tonight, I am one of the happiest and proudest guys on earth for this achievement and I make a very personal and public proclamation to my wife tonight thanking her for her role in making our marriage such an outstanding one for the last three decades.

    How about some others out there? If you are married, post it here and say what make your marriage special and for how long. And for others, perhaps you could chime in about who/what would make your ideal mate or comment how long your mother/father or family members have been betrothed.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)
    I am very glad you posted this - seriously. You two apparently get the "big picture" and are walking the talk (i.e., vows).

    You should both be proud, grateful and happy indeed (as I know you are).

    Congratulations DevilDeac! And here's to 30 more years of you two together!

    -EJ

    Quote Originally Posted by devildeac View Post
    Oh, what the heck. Lavabe congratulated us on the "welcome" thread so I thought, why not? If we can have threads about meat loaf and leg shaving, then I would start one congratulating ourselves on celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary tonight. So, there it is, congratulations to us for 30 years of (mostly) happy marriage. As I wrote in a card to my lovely (and tolerant and patient) sweetheart, marriage is not all love, friendship, happiness, prosperity and sweet talk. This has been a serious, life-long undertaking and tonight, I am one of the happiest and proudest guys on earth for this achievement and I make a very personal and public proclamation to my wife tonight thanking her for her role in making our marriage such an outstanding one for the last three decades.

    How about some others out there? If you are married, post it here and say what make your marriage special and for how long. And for others, perhaps you could chime in about who/what would make your ideal mate or comment how long your mother/father or family members have been betrothed.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Devildeac,

    Thank you for coming here and sharing your joy and happiness and your worthy celebration of your milestone anniversary with us all.

    My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary last year, and they are going strong and enjoying life together as a couple still. However, as you so deftly put it, they were (mostly) happy -- I definitely saw some hard times between them (and I'm sure there were times I didn't see as well.) On rare occasion, my dad really opens up about how deeply he feels about my mom, and once he shared that although he loves my mom, and she's his best friend, what made it work was not the love, but respect -- he respects her as a person, as his wife, as a mother.

    It's obvious you have a great deal of love and respect for your spouse of thirty years and mother of your children. What a wonderful thing. Congratulations to you and Mrs. DD, and may you have several decades to celebrate ahead!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Walnut Creek, California
    Congrats, DD. You are now a day or so into your fourth decade.

    In 5 years you will catch up to Carol and me as we are approaching our 35th in September.

    Your comments about that kind of relationship are what I would have said, if asked, except more eloquent.

    Marriage is indeed hard work, but the payoff is amazing. You take it one day at a time and before you know it, decades have passed, children have come, grown, gone out on their own and I, at least, don't know where the time went. But without a doubt I could not have done it without her. She's my strength, my muse and my conscience. It's not the love that Wordsworth spoke of; it's much more powerful.
    Last edited by Jim3k; 07-09-2008 at 02:36 AM. Reason: spelling

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Greenville, NC
    Congratulations to the DevilDeacs! May you enjoy many more happy years together.

  6. #6

    great post

    very nice post, me and my wife will be together for 15 years this semptember 11th

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Lynchburg, VA
    Congratulations and thanks for encouraging those of us trailing behind. To echo what EJ said, you both deserve enormous respect for honoring your vows through the ups and downs of 30 years. The same goes for Mr. and Mrs. Jim3K.

    My wife and I are coming up on 13 years and I can't believe how quickly it's gone. We tried to have children for longer than 6 years before we were blessed with boy-girl twins (now 4) and another boy (now 2). Those six years were hard at times but we've come to see them as a blessing for how they deepened our relationship. Memories of those years have a way of breaking though the hustle and bustle of rearing 3 children under 5 and reminding us that our love for each other existed before were given children and will exist after they leave the nest (They do leave, don't they??!?). I'm looking forward to the next 17 years.

    Finally, thanks to everyone for sharing. This is a great thread and I'm looking forward to reading about other folks' experiences.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Watching carolina Go To HELL!
    Quote Originally Posted by devildeac View Post
    tonight, I am one of the happiest and proudest guys on earth for this achievement
    Being happy and proud is great, but did you get lucky last night?
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Montclair, NJ
    Congrats DD!

    My husband and I are a month past our 3yr anniversary. Looks like we have a loooong ways to go. For me, each year has been better than the last.

    We just made it through our first move (we have officially left Durham and entered NJ), and seem to still get along. So I think that's a good sign. The next test... house hunting!

    On another note, my parents marriage was arranged and they just celebrated their 36th! So that's pretty cool.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Clearwater, FL
    My husband and I will celebrate our 14th anniversary in August. When we got married his girls were 14 and 16 (the younger lived with us) and my daughter was 7. Adjusting parenting styles was probably the hardest thing to overcome (add a moody hostile 14 year old to the mix and the first few years were challenging). We've been on the brink of throwing in the towel a few times...but when the dust settles he is my best friend, my soft place to land, the one person who will always stand behind me...even when I'm wrong...and I love him dearly.

    My grandparents had a 50th anniverary party quite a few years ago (they are both gone now) and I asked my Grandmother how to stay married for 50 years and she said "Say yes dear...a lot". I went into the other room and asked my Grandfather (who couldn't have heard my grandmother's response) the same question. His answer "Say 'whatever you want is fine with me...a lot'.

    Marriage isn't 50-50 - sometimes it is 80-20 sometimes its 20-80...it is give and take, learning what really matters, when to give in, when to give up, when to stand your ground, when to say you're sorry, when to forgive and when to forget. It is understanding that although you may love someone there will be moments when you don't like them very much ...ultimately staying married is compromise and work and it has to come from the heart of both parties or it won't work.

    Congratulations on 30 years.
    Windsor (aka Loni)

    a wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh

    congrats

    Quote Originally Posted by DevilAlumna View Post
    Devildeac,

    Thank you for coming here and sharing your joy and happiness and your worthy celebration of your milestone anniversary with us all.

    My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary last year, and they are going strong and enjoying life together as a couple still. However, as you so deftly put it, they were (mostly) happy -- I definitely saw some hard times between them (and I'm sure there were times I didn't see as well.) On rare occasion, my dad really opens up about how deeply he feels about my mom, and once he shared that although he loves my mom, and she's his best friend, what made it work was not the love, but respect -- he respects her as a person, as his wife, as a mother.

    It's obvious you have a great deal of love and respect for your spouse of thirty years and mother of your children. What a wonderful thing. Congratulations to you and Mrs. DD, and may you have several decades to celebrate ahead!
    "...And the most important of these is love..." (I Corinthians 13)

    I would think that as the chapter goes "...love is patient, love is kind...is not self-serving..." is very important to me. This ties in with respect I think because when your actions/words are designed to foster/build/solidify the relationship, then that ultimately is complete respect for your spouse.

    Thanks for your kind words and congrats to your parents on their 40 years. I hope you and Mr. DA can equal or exceed that #.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh

    congrats

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim3k View Post
    Congrats, DD. You are now a day or so into your fourth decade.

    In 5 years you will catch up to Carol and me as we are approaching our 35th in September.

    Your comments about that kind of relationship are what I would have said, if asked, except more eloquent.

    Marriage is indeed hard work, but the payoff is amazing. You take it one day at a time and before you know it, decades have passed, children have come, grown, gone out on their own and I, at least, don't know where the time went. But without a doubt I could not have done it without her. She's my strength, my muse and my conscience. It's not the love that Wordsworth spoke of; it's much more powerful.
    I hope we never catch you. (perhaps a better way to express that would be that I hope you always remain 5 years ahead of us.)

    Thanks for your congrats, too. See my response to DA about the love topic. You are right though, it is much more powerful than that. Two of our children are on their own now and the 3rd is at home now working for the summer between her 1st and 2nd years at Duke. It (the whole process) is quite amazing and this is the 1st "milestone" anniversary that has really made me reflect on the long and wonderful journey of matrimony.

    Best wishes to you for 35 more years (or even longer!).

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh

    congrats

    Quote Originally Posted by OZZIE4DUKE View Post
    Being happy and proud is great, but did you get lucky last night?
    I will NEVER divulge that information.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh
    Quote Originally Posted by ghost View Post
    Congrats DD!

    My husband and I are a month past our 3yr anniversary. Looks like we have a loooong ways to go. For me, each year has been better than the last.

    We just made it through our first move (we have officially left Durham and entered NJ), and seem to still get along. So I think that's a good sign. The next test... house hunting!

    On another note, my parents marriage was arranged and they just celebrated their 36th! So that's pretty cool.
    ^somebody had the right idea/plans. Congrats to them!

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh

    congrats

    Quote Originally Posted by Windsor View Post
    My husband and I will celebrate our 14th anniversary in August. When we got married his girls were 14 and 16 (the younger lived with us) and my daughter was 7. Adjusting parenting styles was probably the hardest thing to overcome (add a moody hostile 14 year old to the mix and the first few years were challenging). We've been on the brink of throwing in the towel a few times...but when the dust settles he is my best friend, my soft place to land, the one person who will always stand behind me...even when I'm wrong...and I love him dearly.

    My grandparents had a 50th anniverary party quite a few years ago (they are both gone now) and I asked my Grandmother how to stay married for 50 years and she said "Say yes dear...a lot". I went into the other room and asked my Grandfather (who couldn't have heard my grandmother's response) the same question. His answer "Say 'whatever you want is fine with me...a lot'.

    Marriage isn't 50-50 - sometimes it is 80-20 sometimes its 20-80...it is give and take, learning what really matters, when to give in, when to give up, when to stand your ground, when to say you're sorry, when to forgive and when to forget. It is understanding that although you may love someone there will be moments when you don't like them very much ...ultimately staying married is compromise and work and it has to come from the heart of both parties or it won't work.

    Congratulations on 30 years.
    Thank you.

    Great stories and thoughts. Someone much wiser than me said something very similar many years ago that marriage is NOT 50-50. Marriage is 100-100 because if both partners are not fully/100% committed to the relationship, then it will like not survive. I understand the 80/20 or 20/80 part also. I, too, often find myself saying "whatever you say, dear" and my wife will often reply to some of my requests with, guess what? Yep, "whatever you say, dear."

    Congrats on your 14 years, too.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    553 miles north of Cameron
    Congrats. The Big Guy and I celebrated 30 years this past April. In fact, we're still celebrating it today and every day. I saw him on the BOZO bench way back in Oct. of 1973 and that was that. I knocked him off his feet. (The keg the guys shared with the ADPi's that afternoon might have had something to do with that as well.) One of the secrets to staying together for so long is we still crack each other up. Yeah, we're in it for the long haul.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh

    congrats

    Quote Originally Posted by TheRose77 View Post
    Congrats. The Big Guy and I celebrated 30 years this past April. In fact, we're still celebrating it today and every day. I saw him on the BOZO bench way back in Oct. of 1973 and that was that. I knocked him off his feet. (The keg the guys shared with the ADPi's that afternoon might have had something to do with that as well.) One of the secrets to staying together for so long is we still crack each other up. Yeah, we're in it for the long haul.
    Muchas gracias and the same admiration back at you. Humor is also good in the long haul, in addition to love, respect, hard work, friendship, tolerance, cooperation, compromise. Did I omit something? Oh, yea, physical intimacy is somewhere (high) on that list, also.

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