To My Parents, On their 35th Wedding Anniversary

Originally written on June 18th. Read to my parents sitting in the backyard at Trina's house on June 19th.

I grew up in a trailer, with 5 siblings and my parents. I swear, the only thing that kept it standing was love. The roof leaked, the shower leaked and there was a 2nd bathroom so far gone we closed the doors and didn't entered it for years.

I remember those things well.

But, I also remember family dinners and Dad always sitting down at the head of the table after a long day at work. I remember what our dinners looked like. Always, a full plate of food cooked from scratch by Mom. My belly was always full.

I remember our yard. Mostly sand, with little grass. Oh, how I love a green lawn now but sand, you can dig in sand! You can make puddles, sand castles, race tracks and big hills in sand. We had a beach of our very own.

We played from dawn til after the sun went down in our yard.

One year Dad built a new drain field. He had stones and hay delivered and we played in that too. We were covered in dust at the end of the day after helping Dad spread the hay. We had a blast.

I remember the beach, our 3 level jungle gym and the two tracks. Our yard growing up was awesome!

I remember our pets. Sam, our Boston bull terrier hated peas but wow would his whole body shake when he waged his stubby tail when Dad got home every day. We had him for most of my childhood. I remember we had a litter of black labs and I named one of pups TJ (aka Toe Jam, because it sounded funny.)

Growing up I wanted to join the dance team, play soccer and volleyball. When I dreamed of being in band my parents took me to every band concert. My mom, always doing my hair and making sure my black and white outfit was clean. She called me beautiful when I felt insecure and uncomfortable.

My parents bought me dresses for dances and then my sister handed down her prom dress so I too, could feel like a princess.

We lived on a winding road that wasn't too busy. We road bicycles often, sometimes as far as the nearest neighbor's house a mile away. One year my Dad bought me the nicest pair of roller blades. I always wanted to skate in reverse like he did on his roller blades; something he learned from playing hockey.

My childhood and teenage years are full of memories that are a foundation you built together. Memories that made me who I am today. I cherish every memory you both gave me. Thank You.