I just got back from a trip upstate to visit family. The big event was that my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. This was a big occasion that we’ve been looking forward to. Luckily they’re both still active and healthy, and they threw a big party that brought out lots of friends and relations I haven\u2019t seen in a long time.<\/p>\n
My brother Jim and his family came up from New Mexico with their monster truck and an RV trailer on an epic road trip. We all met up in Albany at my brother Martin\u2019s house for the 4th of July. Martin\u2019s in-laws were having a big ol\u2019 barbeque picnic. Unfortunately, the power steering on Jim\u2019s truck blew out when they arrived, but at least they had their trailer set up and were in a safe place. We all met up in Buffalo by Friday for the party the next day. It was great to see all my nephews and niece together with my kids. And, like I said, lots of cousins came out from Toronto, Ottawa, Chicago, and all over. It was great to see everyone. Really nice.<\/p>\n
My folks hired a violinist and pianist, who were really good at Hungarian, German, Austrian, etc. music, plus a few jazz standards thrown in for good measure. It was perfect for the occasion. There was dancing and everything. My Mum was in high spirits and even extemporaneously sang a number.<\/p>\n
I also saw my friend Mark C., who was the best man at my wedding, who I\u2019ve lost touch with over the years and then remade contact. He\u2019s also the best drummer I\u2019ve ever worked with, in Infinigon, Event Horizon, and a few other groups. I wish he lived around here. He\u2019s been in a metal band and a world beat party band the last few years, doing the summer festival circuit. He\u2019s sporting a way-cool Zappa-esque goatee these days. It was great to catch up.<\/p>\n
I gave the toast at my Mum and Dad\u2019s party. I wrote a draft out ahead of time, and then paraphrased it (mainly to shortening it to fit the mood of the moment). This method has worked for me as well as an outline or bullet points, and one can always fall back on the text if winging it seems to be losing the thread at delivery time. So I thought I\u2019d present my toast here, for my Mum and Dad.<\/p>\n
\u2026<\/p>\n
A Toast<\/strong><\/p>\n Mum and Dad, we\u2019re here celebrating your 50th wedding anniversary. And it\u2019s good to be here. A lot of people don\u2019t make it to fifty, so you deserve to celebrate. And we here all deserve to celebrate too, having known you and seen your enduring love affect our lives. Thank you everyone for coming, family and lifelong friends, to help celebrate, some of you from a long way away.<\/p>\n Let me take a moment to express how, as a product of your love, how much you\u2019ve meant to me. Dad, I want you to know how my admiration for you has deepened over the years. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever known a more principled man. In my youth I mainly saw the uncompromising aspect of it, but over time I\u2019ve come to appreciate the values and the strength behind it. You\u2019ve given me a lot to live up to and to look up to. Your intelligence and vast practical knowledge have been in inspiration too. You speak and read several languages. You know how to build or fix pretty much anything. You\u2019ve had a successful career as an engineer, and have been lucky enough to enjoy a long retirement. All your sons have gone on to careers in engineering, although in the field of software rather than machinery, some of us despite our efforts to do something else. Your passion for precise thinking has been an example that served me well. Another passion of yours is a love of nature and the outdoors. You\u2019ve always kept the most wonderful fruit trees and vegetable garden.<\/p>\n Mum, my love and admiration for knows no bounds. Your nurturing, your industriousness, your fantastic cooking, your humor. Your commitment to education has been a big factor in my own success in life. But the thing I appreciate most is your creative side, and the creativity you fostered in me. Your love of music has certainly rubbed off on me. Growing up our house was always full of music, particularly classical music. Playing music is one of my great joys in life. You are an expert in needlepoint, sewing, and cross-stitch, and your work is beautiful and at a masterful level. My other artistic passion is origami, and I also credit this to you. Your example of patient dedication has been an inspiration.<\/p>\n Together you make a great team, and so have prospered and mellowed over time and grown in love and commitment. So we find ourselves here today. Like I said, It\u2019s good to be here. All the family and lifelong friends, everyone who\u2019s shared in their lives, now you\u2019re to help make this a special day. Please join me in a toast to my Mum and Dad, Frank and Eva. Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I just got back from a trip upstate to visit family. The big event was that my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. This was a big occasion that we’ve been looking forward to. Luckily they’re both still active and healthy, and they threw a big party that brought out lots of friends and relations … Continue reading “The Big Five-Oh”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-automotive","category-people","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zingman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zingman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zingman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zingman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zingman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zingman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zingman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zingman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zingman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}