A Writer's Week #91: A Golden Day

A lot of exciting things happened this writer's week. I worked out a big chunk of the plot and background information for The Deliverers 4. I met with illustrator Daniel Vogel to work out the concept for the cover of The Deliverers 3: The Golden Dragon of Ang. I'm preparing for a great show next weekend (see Appearance Alert at the bottom of this post). But all of that pale in comparison to what's going on today.

Today is my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It's hard for me to believe. We held an anniversary party for them at the beginning of August. We did that for two reasons. Number one was because we wanted it to be a surprise (it was). Number two because with children coming from as far away as Vermont, Florida and Montana, the logistics worked better in the summer than late fall, and we wanted all five children to be there. We're so far flung that the last time we were all together was almost ten years ago. I'm so glad we were able to pull it off.

My parents are really fantastic. They raised five children without any of us being seriously damaged. My father, Albert Slomba, is brilliant. As an optical engineer, he was a leader in his field and worked on many important projects including the Hubble Space Telescope. My mother is equally brilliant, but made the decision to stay home and raise her five rambunctious children. She did an outstanding job and even managed to find time volunteer frequently and spent several year as the Director of Religious Education for our parish.

I can only imagine the trials of raising five children. My wife and I have two and the challenges of that are

The entire brood

huge enough to me. I couldn't imagine having five. Still, my parents managed to pull it off and made it look easy (to us). Along the way there were challenges, both mundane and extraordinary.

They had a son (me) who was so hyperactive that he danced on the desks of his first grade class when his mother came to visit. They bore the weight of a daughter who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of six (she made it through with flying colors). They had a three year old son (not me) who decided to run around the neighborhood naked. This does not even cover the usual cuts, bruises, stitches and teenage angst that all parents deal with.

Through it all, they kept their cool and were always loving and supportive. They made it look so easy to us that we took what they did for granted. I was probably the most guilty of this. As the oldest, it was all just business as usual to me. I didn't appreciate it until I had children of my own. I try to follow my parents' and my in-laws' example (they've been married 51 years), but I am not always successful.

Whatever I do in life, through all my successes and failures, my parents have always been my yardstick. They set such a great example. Now that we're all grown and out of the house, it's nice to go over and see how much they enjoy just being together. They truly are best friends and that is the key, I think. All of us kids own our parents so much. Thanks,Mom and Dad for always being there and always being supportive. We love you and hope God blesses you with many more years of happy marriage!

Appearance Alert:  My next show will be November 2 & 3 at the Santa's Arts & Crafts Festival at the Coco Key Resort in Waterbury, CT.