36 Years Strong

Today is myMom and myDad's 36th wedding anniversary! Woohoo! They got married at the ripe old ages of 19 (myMom) and 18 (myDad). There's even a story (which I'm not sure is true or not) of my grandmother going with myDad to get the wedding license because they wouldn't give him one cause he was still in high school (he was behind a couple of years).
My parents are truly role models for me in life, marriage and parenting. They are both great people that have sacrificed their whole lives for me and Wiki, love spending time with us, love anything we love (pets, friends and husband).
I also look to their marriage as a guide. My parents were always a united front inside the home and out. They never fought in front of anyone, even us - that's not to say that they never lost their temper with each other out in the open, but they would agree to "talk about it later."
One thing I love about their parenting was again that united front. If one said no, then the other would stand by it. My sister and I knew how to work the system to get what we wanted, but we knew that no meant no. Even if one of our parents were being unreasonable (known to happen at times) and we actually got the other parent to agree with us and agree to talk to the other about it, it was ultimately up to the original parent to change their mind, they never overrode each other in front of us.
The other quality I hope to translate into my own family is their ability to stick to their own goals to better themselves while still sacrificing to make our family better. myMom was working her first full time job and my dad a junior in high school when they got married. Six months later, Wiki showed up (I know!). I was born four years later. However in the past 36 years, they were able to both earn their degrees, my mom even getting her masters, while sending Wiki and I to catholic schools and private university. They understood that to get what they wanted from life for all of us, we need to leave their hometown and huge families. But now, they now live in their dream(ish) house and enjoy the life of empty nesters, eagerly awaiting their turn to be doting grandparents.