Spec. 15th Anniv. Ed.

Two days late with apologies.

April 18th marked my parents' 15th anniversary. (If you don't know my life story, my dad remarried after my mom died, so these two parents were not co-habitating 11 years after I was born).

Living at home gives me an opportunity to observe them in a way few of my peers have. Or maybe I should limit "my peers" to "my friends," since in many cultures people live with their parents until they are married and in our culture, plenty of people my age still live in their parents' home. That is, if their parents are together, which is not always the case, but I digress.

These are things I like about my parents:

• They like each other, so they're nice to be around. They also love each other, but they like each other.
• They are texting maniacs. Basically like teenagers. My mother is at Wa. St. Univ. this weekend visiting it with Charlie. So last night she got the 135 character play-by-play narrative of Dad's best pal, Sully, a black lab, trying to bring a whole rabbit to bed in their room. Then trying with a half rabbit. And finally just a rabbit leg. Her reply, "Hold the line."
  
• Mother has started calling Dad "Kirk", which is what my Grandma Shirley called my Grandpa Ken. I like it.
• They've both made an effort to recycle for years, which is a fair effort considering that half the things recycle 40 miles south and half recycle 30 miles north. Mother freaks out when she forgets to take her reusable bags to the grocery store.
  
• When feeding cattle in the winter, particularly, or when facing a daunting meeting, whatever, they say to each other, "I have to get my guts up." It's cute because no one else in the United States says that. Just them.
• They're really nice to my friends who visit (and welcoming to me to live with them).
• At the dining room table, they sit by each other rather than at the heads of the table.
  

I like many more things about them, and you may, too, but these are the highlights for tonight.