Thirty-Five.

Today is my parents' thirty-fifth anniversary. On July 24, 1976, with red, white and blue as her colors -- in honor of that month's celebration of the bicentennial -- my mom married my dad in Elm Grove, Wisconsin.

Today, my parents are in Colorado. My brother lives about an hour from them, although drives by their exit on the freeway every day on his way to work.

The thirty-fifth anniversay is either the coral or jade anniversary. To celebrate, my brother and I sent my parents a jade bonsai tree. For one thing, coral is a tough thing to find an appropriate couples present. For another, jade is a symbol of luck. And, I don't think you get to thirty-five years without some luck involved. I think its fair to say that they have gone through their better and worse times. They have definitely gone through the sickness part of the vows. That seems especially true over the last year or so. Hopefully, they will get to enjoy some of the health part of the vows in the coming years.

I think thirty-five years is really impressive. Especially today, when divorce is a 50-50 bet, thirty-five years is definitely an accomplishment. Oddly, many of my friends' parents have been married at least thirty five years. And, in my opinion, not coincidentally, a lot of my friends are still single. I think its possible that we see and admire our parents' marriages and want to emulate them. It is a high bar. An admirably high bar that I hope to meet some day -- although, I better get cracking!

Cheers to my parents on their thirty-fifth anniversary!