Raul and Jo Ascunce celebrated their anniversary with Charles Ralph.
Fifty-plus years ago, an ad appeared on a bulletin board in the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University. It read: “Piano accompanist needed for voice lessons.”
Six little tabs were attached … and then there were five.
Several months ago, we got a call from our adult daughter. “Mom and Dad,” she began, “in a few months it will be your 50th anniversary. My brother, your son, and I would like to plan something nice for you to celebrate this golden event. I’m thinking a huge surprise party, huge cake, huge guest list, in a huge venue. We’ll take care of everything; you just show up and act surprised. Think about it. …”
A couple of days later the son called, “Guys, let’s talk 50th anniversary. I’m thinking an adventure celebration with mountain climbing, white-water rafting, throw in some zip-lining and spelunking and ‘BOOM!’ we’ve got ourselves an awesome anniversary experience. We’ll take care of everything; you just show up. Think about it. …”
Sitting in the family room the wife said, “What do you want to do for our 50th anniversary, Dear?”
“The huge party and adventure celebration both sound wonderful. But honestly, I’m not sure I could survive either. A surprise party could blow out my heart and a mountain climb would blow out my lungs. I’d settle for something a little less threatening to my overall health. How do you want to celebrate our 50th?”
“Well, for sure I would like to keep your internal organs intact for our anniversary. What about a quiet family vacation on a lake somewhere?”
“You know what? That sounds perfect. Let’s tell the kids.”
The kids were informed and the planning began. A beautiful lake home was rented in Kentucky. It had all the amenities we could possibly want, plus a dock with a pontoon boat, two kayaks, a canoe, a paddle board, and every kind of flotation device imaginable.
“Wow!” I said, “with all of these water-related activities, you don’t suppose our children are trying to drown us for their inheritance, do you?”
“No, Dear. I think they just want us to have fun.”
Well, on June 28, we all convened at the lake house in Kentucky for a five-day celebration. The daughter and her family from Georgia, and the son and his wife from Colorado.
When you live so far from your children, time spent together is precious. It’s a gift, the best gift we could have been given. Board games, water sports, making meals, and pontooning, all connected us in a way that phone calls and text messages can’t.
On Sunday night, a program had been planned for after dinner. I shared a “How it all started” speech. The wife then surprised me with a wonderful slide show history for our 50 years together, from long hair, to mullet, to perm, to male pattern baldness.
Then our daughter had an incredible presentation of touching video anniversary wishes from so many of our friends and family. How she collected them all, I don’t know, but tears were streaming freely.
And if that wasn’t enough, our 16-year-old granddaughter sang and played the keyboard to our song, Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” which was followed by our son singing a song he wrote for us called “Cause and Effect” about the chain reaction of family events which brought us all to this place on this day.
Fifty is a pretty big number when it comes to anniversaries, and I want to say a huge “THANK YOU!” to our children and grandchildren for making this one so special. Not many men are still with their starter wives after 50 years. I’m just so glad that a pretty young piano accompanist saw my ad on that bulletin board so many years ago and tore off a tab.
Happy 50th anniversary, Honey!!!
Raul Ascunce is a freelance columnist for the Sentinel-Tribune. He may be contacted at [email protected].
