Mom and Dad are both 89 years old. And today is their 67th wedding anniversary.

They still hold hands. They still laugh together. And they still say, “I love you.”

Mom and Dad met when they were 13 years old. Dad’s family moved in across the street from Mom’s house in New Haven, Connecticut. Just a year later, they promised to always be together.

They kept that promise.

But their education came first. Dad headed to Rhode Island and Providence College. Mom went north to Hartford and Saint Joseph College.

During her sophomore year, a college assignment involved writing a sonnet. You remember sonnets from when you studied Shakespeare, right? In case it’s slipped from your overtaxed brain, a sonnet is typically a 14-line poem, literally a “little song.”

The inspiration for Mom’s sonnet? The love of her life.

David

I looked at David. He is laughing now.
I never saw him laugh before – like this;
His face is deep in sunshine and somehow
I want him so to ask me for a kiss.
I never felt this way before. He seems
Always too shy and stiff with timid pride;
But he looks different now; his young mouth dreams,
And I can feel him rumbling deep inside
The way my father does when Spring comes by
And he is locked in laughter and new song;
And David has a smile no storms deny –
Like boyhood when it suddenly grows strong.
I look at David. Now my heart can see
He isn’t laughing – and he looks at me.

– Joan Cassidy, 1949

“David” became the first of Mom’s poems to be published. She remembers feeling “ecstatic” when, in February of 1950, it appeared in Seventeen magazine.

Mom and Dad were engaged a few months before her graduation in the spring of 1952. Mom’s engagement ring was a family heirloom. Both of Dad’s parents hailed from Maine, so the Maine Tourmaline ring was a special welcome to the family.

Scheduling the wedding and honeymoon was a little tricky, as Dad had enlisted in the Army that April. Dad strategically chose to enlist so that he could go through basic training in the more tolerable fall months. Had he been drafted, chances were he’d face training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, over the winter.

Even though I know how the story turned out, my heart skipped a beat when Dad told me his initial request for a three-day pass was denied. Undeterred, he spoke with his lieutenant colonel, and the wedding was back on.

The nuptials were conducted by Father Eugene Torpey at Saint Francis Church in New Haven. Dad’s best man was Mom’s uncle Pip Regan. Mom’s maid of honor was her sister, Bunny.

The newlyweds whisked off to New York City for a brief honeymoon at the Hotel Pennsylvania.

You know, the one with the famous phone number:

A few short days later, Dad returned to Fort Dix. His overseas orders were waiting on his bunk.

Korea.

Four children, seven grandchildren, and three (so far) great-grandchildren later, Mom and Dad are enjoying their anniversary together in their lovely home in Madison, Connecticut.

He sent her flowers.

This time, 67 years later, it was Dad’s turn to be poetic:

“David” © 1949 Joan Cassidy Vayo. All rights reserved.

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