Today is my parents’ 50th anniversary.  On January 27, 1968, in a Russian Orthodox church in central Pennsylvania, an 18-year-old and a 22-year-old made a commitment to one another.  They upheld their vows to the very end.

It’s uncommon today for couples to marry so young and to stay together.  My parents came of age in a different time and culture, a world where starter marriages weren’t yet a thing and the median age of a U.S. bride was 20.8 (by 2015, the number had risen to 27.1).  Still, it’s pretty amazing that a teenage bride and a groom in his early twenties chose each other and stuck together for all those years. Read more