My Project 52 (24) -

"Stay as sweet as you are, don't let a thing ever change you. 

Stay as sweet as you are, don't let a soul rearrange you. 

Don't ever lose all the charm you possess. 

Your loveliness, darling, the way you say "Yes". 

Stay as sweet as you are, discreet as you are, you're divine, dear. 

Stay as grand as you are, and as you are, tell me that you're mine, dear.

Young and gay, or old and gray, near to me or afar.

Night and day I pray, that you'll always stay - as sweet as you are." 

~ Nat King Cole ~ 

Week 24 

 My parents hands - they've been married 29.5 years! It will be 30 years this November. 

Today after Amanda & Troy's wedding, my Daddy, Mama and I went out to Ted's Montana Grill (our favorite restaurant!), there in Jacksonville, since we don't have one near us. Tomorrow is Father's Day, and on Wednesday is my Mama's birthday! So it was two - celebrations - worth of a dinner!! :) 

We had a great time and the food was amazing (as it always is). Mama got a free cookie and Hagen Daz ice cream for her birthday! Ted's has this amazing brown paper with western maps printed on it that goes over the tablecloths, and it was the perfect highlight in the photo, to my parents many years of faithfulness and loving commitment and joy. It just struck me how ageless and true real love can be. 

I love my parents so much! I'm grateful every day for the love and care they give to our family. Marriage seems so sweet and tender when I look at them. Everything I've ever loved about marriage has been from seeing them live it day in and day out, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow. 

Watching them and loving them, it's easy to see why love is such a beautiful and captivating thing. 

With love always,

~ Jean Marie ~