Sixty Years is No Trifle - An Open Letter

On January, 29, 1950, Roger and Yuvon Boomershine were married in Grand Rapids, MI. The fallout has been great. Today we gather together to recognize their faithfulness.

January 29, 2010

Dear Grandpa and Grandma Boomershine,

Sixty years is no trifle!

And no one should pretend it is. Nor should they think it was easy either.

Kingdoms have been conquered, rebuilt and then lost in less time! Alexander annexed the whole known world in only half that time. You could have walked around the earth 84 times in 60 years! You’ve been married through 12 U.S. Presidents. But then, some things are worth waiting for. Some species of oak don’t begin producing acorns until their 60th year. The pyramids took 60 years to build by hand. It takes a lot of gumption and grace to stay put.

Roger and Yuvon - January 29, 1950

In 1950, the world was vastly different (wasn’t everything still black and white then?). The big wars were over and rebuilding was in full swing. The moon was still unlittered. Sheep were still uncloned. Telephones were anchored to walls. You went to work offering service to the community, showing them how to make a living with the labor of their hands, having turned their swords into printing presses. You were part of what was maybe that last generation of Americans that didn’t have that permanent swath of skepticism slathered all over their faces, the last generation that did not invariably question authority. And you did it all without Google, iPhones, blogs and Facebook which our generation thinks is really impressive.

You dabbled in many, many, many entrepreneurial ventures together. We’ve only been around about one-half your married life, but the first few that come to mind are beauty salons, cookbooks, house renovations, house-flipping, and a retirement community. Who knows how varied it got back when you were young and impulsive!

You two became eight and from eight there are just over 100 of us now (103 at last count)–all carrying your name and likeness in some way. Thank you for handing us a heritage that is not about violence, corruption, and broken paroles. But instead…we like to explore, we love taking drives to nowhere, we enjoy first-rate food at out-of-the-way locations, a lot of us enjoy singing, we enjoying sitting through classes as well as standing in front of them, we are enormously funny, we are far too sarcastic, we put cottage cheese in our chili for goodness sake!, and, most importantly, almost all of us are faithful believers and worshipers of God. We are not perfect, we are quirky, we mess up, but we have found the Gospel true, and we seek to live it and be approved by it.

Thank you for being the doers of it. Thank you for being so welcoming and excited to see us when we walk through the door, even if we just sit and don’t have much to say. Thank you for always being generous and available. Thank you for adoring our kids. It always feels like Grandpa and Grandma’s house when we walk in the door.

Thank you for showing us–showing all of us–what a steady, quiet, day-upon-day, permanent, loving relationship looks like in humble action. We admire and love you for doing it like you’ve been doing it for so many years. We, too, aspire to the joy of a full and happy 60 married years.

We thank God upon our every remembrance of you,

Ryan and Christie Boomershine
Nashville, TN