Anniversary

This is from two years ago,
but Happy Anniversary to
Herb & Jane Pendergraft,
married 12/16/53.

O, little town of Albemarle,
how sweetly did the organ sing
a lifetime ago on this very day.
Mama in her champagne-color dress,
sparkled here and there with beads,
knee-length out of practicality for a
smallish ceremony, Daddy with his
auburn hair, long gone, as are the
parents flanking happy couple in all the
sepia photographs. He met her at
a jewelry store, she the most precious
gem of all. High school teacher,
he chaperoned a dance and took her as
his date; they cleared the floor like in the movies,
students smiling as he glided her
around the gym floor deftly. In due time
three children born, one tiny casket
buried. Moves between towns, between
states and denominations, economic
changes, stresses and strains. For better
and worse, richer and poorer, in health
and now in sickness, they've stayed the
course, held their posts, kept their vows.
This doesn't happen all that much,
not any more, and so it's worthy of
mention and of celebration.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2012