On February 20, 2020, my family celebrated my grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary. 60 years! My Babi and Deda’s love story started in Czechoslovakia. They met dancing one night and the rest is history.
They have two daughters (my mom and my aunt Katie) and they spent the first few years of their childhood in Czechoslovakia. In 1969 they decided to pack their suitcases and move across the ocean to America with only $20 in their pockets. Oh and did I mention they didn’t know how to speak English? They moved to the windy city of Chicago where they would start their adventure living with family, later moving into an apartment and eventually buying a home in the west suburbs. Babi worked three jobs and Deda worked two jobs and they started going to night school to learn English all while raising their two daughters.
They spent 45 years in that home. There were countless memories, stories, holidays, birthdays and wheel of fortune nights in that home. In November of 2018, my grandparents moved to Colorado.
This is just a little glimpse of my Babi and Deda’s lives together. February 20, 2020, was a special day for them and for all of us who got to celebrate 60 years of marriage with them. We celebrated by having a big dinner at my parent’s house and as we passed around all the dumplings and goulash, we heard stories about their wedding day. They told us how the day went, where they had the wedding all while looking at the three wedding photos that they have. Two out of the three were photos I had never seen before. There is so much history behind these photos. It was kind of a full-circle moment for me. I always say pictures last a lifetime. That the photos we take now are photos that our future children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will look at one day and imagine what our days looked like. That is exactly what I did when I saw my grandparent’s wedding photos. I imagined what their wedding day looked like, what their lives were like back in Czech and how many memories and stories they must have from 60 years of marriage. Their love is truly inspiring and just a reminder of why I do what I do.
It was just an honor and joy taking a few photos of my grandparents and recreating their wedding picture. My mom had come up with the idea to have my grandma’s wedding bouquet recreated. She brought their wedding photo to the Longmont Florist and they did an AMAZING job bringing it back to life! My grandma was completely surprised and was moved to tears by my mom’s sweet gift. We ended the night with chocolate mousse cake and a champagne toast.
Cheers to 60 years of love and happiness Babi and Deda! It was a great night and one I will never forget.
Warmly,
Markie
