These two jolly ol’ timers are my Mom & Dad. Perhaps they won’t be so flattered by my calling them ‘old timers’ but they’ve just celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary and that sounds pretty ‘old timey’ to me.

They first met in the London suburb of Ilford when my Mom’s father chased down and confronted my Dad and his friend Dennis, mistakenly thinking they had something to do with the disappearance of my Mom’s moped. That’s hardly the most romantic of starts, but it started something for sure!

Not that long later, a rather skinny young version of my Dad, Alan, was walking down the isle of St. Clement’s church in Ilford with his beautiful young bride, Jen.

Dad will turn 80 this year, which surprises me a little, but then I suspect it might surprise him more. Time goes so very slow when you wait for it to pass, yet it slips by almost unnoticed when you’re busy doing other things.

Some years ago I realised that it wasn’t just us kids that grew up and changed. Mom and Dad did too. Maybe thats obvious, but it was something of a revelation to me at the time. After all, we don’t see our parents so much as the people they are, but the constant they’ve always been.

So as I look at my folks today I think my siblings and I did a pretty good job of producing these two fine parents!

I’m joking, of course. In reality, I just hope these two jolly ol’ timers are as proud of me as I am of them!

Thanks, Mom & Dad.