Shhh..it's a secret

Do you have family secrets? In my family, secrets are the foundation. Here is an example... when I was 13, I was talking to my Mom and said, "your 25th wedding anniversary is coming up; are we going to have a party?" She looked at me and asked, "how do you figure that?"... well, I'm 13, my sister is 23 (going to be 24 in March) and their anniversary is in February - I know I'm not good at math, but the numbers worked out to me ... imagine my surprise when my Mom tells me that my parents have only been married for 18 years! "WHAT?! OH MY GOD MOM!! You hussy!" - yes, I actually said that to her! She then proceeded to tell me that she had been previously married and that my sister was adopted by my Dad. (But she failed to tell me that she had been engaged to another man after her divorce and before meeting my Dad - genealogy isn't always a wonderful thing LOL)

They didn't want to celebrate their anniversary because Dad said he didn't want to have to explain why he had a daughter 5 years older and a daughter 5 years younger.

We did celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in June, 2008 because nobody wants to travel in February... I wanted to go to Vegas but Mom wanted to go to Branson, Missouri. Since it was their anniversary, we went to Branson, and it was in the middle, of all the family who could go so it made sense... but we didn't tell Mom we were having a party with her brother, sister, sisters-in-law, great niece and nephew as well as my sister and her husband. I was delayed getting there because my oldest granddaughter was born 2 days after we were supposed to leave. Kenzie was the best "anniversary" present for my parents!

My parents met in a bar, in Weirton, West Virginia, in November 1957 while my Dad was on leave from the Navy. They got married on Valentine's Day, 1958.