Mom and Dad's Anniversary

The Day After The Day of Infamy


Mom and Dad were married on December eighth, nineteen fifty one. Since Pearl Harbor Day was the day before, it should have been easily remembered. It was… for Mom. For some reason Dad had a mental block about it. As much as he loved Mom, that was the one thing that he just could not remember. He was almost, you might say, faithful to forget about it.

Dad was the Sunday School superintendent for several years at our church. One of the traditions at that time was that the superintendent made announcements to the congregation between Sunday School and the Church Service. Among the announcements that were made was to ask if anyone had a birthday or anniversary during the preceding week. On one particular Sunday, that just happened to be December eighth, Dad faithfully asked the congregation if any had had a birthday, or an anniversary. Mom sat in the pew gritting her teeth, wondering if anyone else in the church was going to remember and remind Dad.

When Doris and I were grown, we took it upon ourselves to remind Dad at least the day before that his anniversary was upon him. Mom began to get cards and gifts from Dad, for which she always thanked us.