My parents are celebrating their 25th engagement anniversary today. They’ve gone out, to a museum and later to dinner, all dressed up and happy. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned my parents’ love story here – yet it’s definitely something that has shaped the way I see the world. They’re living proof for all my romantic notions of love at first sight and forever, much more than any movie or TV show…

You must know, they met when they were both over fourty, on 14 July 1979. And if you are quick, you already have put two and two together and realized that that means that they got engaged less than a month later – and if you know how old I am, you know that they were married and had a child on 5 January 1981, not even 1 1/2 years later… Quite impressive for a confirmed bachelor (everyone was convinced he’d stay single) and a nurse who’d come to terms with her spinsterhood when she met the man who changed it all.

They met at the wedding of the brother of a friend of my mother’s, where my father officiated (is that the word?) – in other words, he was the minister. But after the service they got talking, and both say that they knew right away that this was meant to be. Less than a month later, after exchanging letters almost daily, on 10 August 1979, my father drove down to where my mom worked in a rehab facility, and they spent the day together, going for long walks and talking. The very next day, they got engaged.

Their love today is still as strong as it was then, right from the start, despite all their differences in personality and all the ups and downs of everyday life. They have given me so much, but their greatest gift has been their love, for each other and for us children. It’s an inspiration to me, and living proof that there is such a thing as the One True Love God has destined us to find.