We celebrated my parents' 50th wedding anniversary last weekend with 100 of their closest friends.  It was great fun reminiscing with the people who brought the two opposites together.

     My mother was one of 8 children in a single parent immigrant household.  Her mother and siblings all worked at least 2 jobs to support the family.  She wore hand me down clothes from her sisters and learned the value of hard work.  For entertainment, my grandmother invited all of her Swedish friends over to play their accordians, sing and dance.  My mother  was a "Rosie the riveter" during the war and eventually graduated from nursing school in southern California.  Along the way, her adventures included caring for Judy Garland, learning to fly a helicopter and working as a nurse in Sweden for a year.

     On the other hand, my dad was an only child to older parents.  They led a very quiet life in a beautiful old home.   My grandpa ran his own insurance business and my grandma stayed home.  My dad had 3 female cousins who occasionally filled in as siblings on quiet vacations to a cottage on a lake.  He graduated from Northwestern University and served in the navy following school. My grandma saved everything of my dad's- all of the letters he wrote home from the navy, all of his college notebooks and even his cub scout uniform.   Eventually, he returned to join his father in the insurance business.

     The two met on a blind date when mutual friends introduced them.  Romance blossomed and they married a year later.  Over the years, they've learned to embrace their differences and compliment each other well.  They're at their best when they're working on a project together.  Whether it's hosting Swedish tourist groups (she does the tour in Swedish and he gives the bus driver directions in English) or working together to move an elderly relative into a new home, they draw on each other's strengths.

     They're living proof that opposites do attract and stick together.