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Wa\ and, Mississippi November 15, 1982
This is long overdue, but re-entry was not easy. The delay in no way indicates a lessening of the ecstatic happiness that your celebration of our Golden Wedding Anniversary brought to us. It was the outpouring of love on the part of each of you that made everything so special. It will ever be an unforgetable, glorious memory, to be re-lived over and over and over again. Every detail was perfect:	Not the tiniest flaw!	Our	hearts are still	burst-
ing with joy over the beauty of it all.
We only hope that, on our part, our lives have	conveyed to you	how	worthwhile it is to stick to the marriage commitment. Some day each of you	will
reap the soul-satisfying reward th*t can evolve from adherence to one's marriage vows, which at times can be soul-shattering. Julie, you have a different kind of commitment. Though once a year you are free to walk out, you have chosen to stay. I don't think that would work too well with marriage. There are times you-feel like chucking it all.
We hope you will forgive us for our	mistakes	and	failures	through	the
years. There have probably been many of	which we	are	not even	aware.	But,
do know that we have loved you dearly, and that we love out sons-and-daughters in-law as our very own. After all, love is what really counts in life. Being a sentimentalist, I can't help but inject a bit of poetry. The following is from a book Julie gave us, which so beautifullyHefines love and its growth throughout a lifetime*I Let love ever grow in your lives and nurture it with care. The reward is great!
"Love is the river of life in this world.	Think not that	ye
know it who stand at the little tinkling rill,	the first small
fountain. Not until you have gone through the rocky yorgoii, And r;o<; J.or;t the stream, not until you have gone through th<> mn.ulow, and the stream has widened and deepened until fleets could ride on its bosom, not until	beyond the meadow	you have come to the
unfathomable ocean, and	poured your treasures into its depth ?
not until then can you know what love is."
Henry Ward Beecher
Some of you are still at the tinkling rill; others have gone through the rocky gorges, but we have come to the unfathomable ocean ar.d know what love really is. It's a beautiful time of life. We hope each of you will reach together with your spouses.
Thank you, not only for	the outpouring of	love on the occasion of cur
?irjecial anniversary, but for	the love you have	given through the years.	That
is the best reward of all!
We love you,