We went to a delightful party last night. The party was in celebration of the 40th anniversary of dear friends. There weren’t a lot of people we knew at the party, but the thing we all had in common - friendship with this couple - gave us an instant bond. The adult children of the couple did a delightful time of welcoming all who came and providing some wonderful laughter with games and announcements while we sat at tables. There was a touching service of vow renewal co-officiated by a college friend of the couple and a younger friend who also is a minister. We all heard stories about the couple that we had not previously known. The hall was decorated with some of the couple’s wedding pictures. Thee was a buffet with appetizers as we arrived and a very nice dinner with lots and lots of food served a bit later. Our hosts know how to throw a party and we felt lucky to have been invited.

There was a lot of party left to go on as we quietly exited the event. A DJ was playing music from the 80’s and folks were dancing. We are leading worship at a small church this morning and have been looking forward to this event as well, so wanted to get to bed near our usual time to be refreshed for today’s activities.

We’ve been to other 40th anniversary parties in the past. What was different about this one is that we have been married for more than a decade longer than the celebrating couple. We celebrated our 50th last June and our 51st is just around the corner. Somehow, however, we aren’t used to being the old folks at a party. It doesn’t seem all that long to us that we were at the 40th anniversary of friends and seminary classmates when we visited them in Australia. But that trip and that anniversary party was 18 years ago. Actually, when they played a trivia game about the events of 19874 at last night’s party, we did a pretty good job of figuring out several of the answers because we could remember the time quite well. In 1984, Ronald Regan won a landslide victory in his bid for a second term as President of the US. His opponent, Walter Mondale, won the electors of only one state - Minnesota. I knew the price of an Apple Macintosh computer was $2,500 because we ended up making a deal to buy a used one a couple of years later after wanting one since they came out. The Summer Olympics were in Los Angeles.

I’ve never been good at keeping track of television shows and movies, so I was less familiar with those questions - I would have missed a lot of them back in 1984 as well. Back in 1984, we were still adjusting to what it means to be parents. Our son was three and our daughter was not yet a year old. Our lives were busy with jobs and children.

And now it is 40 years later. As we were reminded at last night’s party, a couple very much in love got married. They met in college. They both were Elementary Education majors. In those 40 years they brought together their extended families, had children of their own and raised them to adulthood, traveled the world, pursued varied and successful careers, mentored countless young people into their own adulthoods and careers, made friends, and found delight in one another. They are both retired - something we had not yet pulled off by our 40th anniversary. We opted for a family gathering for our celebration. Interestingly, even though we lived and worked in South Dakota at the time, we chose to celebrate our anniversary here in the Pacific Northwest gathering our children and their families for a fun time. We only had one grandchild at the time and they lived in Olympia Washington. Gathering at a campground in Anacortes with their family and our daughter and her husband made for a wonderful celebration. We took a whale watching cruise in the Salish Sea around the San Juan Islands, waters that now are more familiar to us than they were then. A family dinner in a restaurant capped a wonderful celebration. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to celebrate with friends with a big party. Arranging events for groups of people, including arranging for them to be fed and entertained, was part of what we did for a living. A more quiet moment with family met our sense of recreation at the time.

It continues to surprise me by how quickly time flies by. Shortly after our wedding we attended a 50th wedding anniversary celebration at our church. I remember many comments about us being the newlyweds at the party. I relished in the attention. I liked being seen as a married person. Now we attend anniversary parties as the old married couple. We’re the ones who greet the younger people at the parties. Folks don’t expect us to know all the answers to the trivia games - we’re old and they suspect our memories are not as sharp as once was the case. They don’t expect us to stay up all night dancing. Being old has a few advantages. We don’t get pressured to get up from where we are sitting to dance. People are kind to us and make sure we have gotten everything we wanted for dinner. They offer to get beverages for us and bring them to us. And we know we aren’t the center of attention, so there is no pressure on us to perform.

We are, however, honored to be included in the celebrations of people who are younger than us. We enjoy the leadership and initiative of young people at such events. Last night’s party was a celebration of people of all ages and a tribute to the couple we were honoring as they have drawn all of us together.

Sometimes it is quite comfortable to be the old couple sitting in the corner who leave before the party is finished. It was a good dinner. The conversation was enjoyable. The occasion was worthy of a celebration. And we didn’t have to do the planning. What is more, we know that there are more parties to come. We show no signs of running out of friends with whom to celebrate.