A Chinese wedding anniversary
I spent last weekend in Guangzhou the bustling capital city of 16 million people in China’s Guangdong province. I was there to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of Lenny and Gloria Fink, the parents of a very dear friend.
Lenny and Gloria Fink, centre front, surrounded by their children, spouses, and grandchildren, celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in Guangzhou, China on July 30, 2011.
A diamond wedding anniversary seems like an extraordinary enough feat these days, given the high rate of divorces in many countries, including SA, and expiration relationships with built in sell-by dates. But Lenny and Gloria are an extraordinary couple in other ways too, wise beyond even their years and intellects.
They hail from a village near Guangzhou, and emigrated to SA many years ago, where they quickly became hugely successful in business in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, and raised eight children. All but one now live in Canada and the US.
Lenny and Gloria emigrated to Canada more than a decade ago too, but chose to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in the land of their birth, with all their offspring, spouses, and 15 grandchildren by their side. They have taken very seriously their responsibility as parents to teach their children well, as the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song goes, and give them both roots and wings.
So on many levels, it was a huge privilege to be the only non-Asian member of such a special and intimate family occasion, and witness genuine commitment in action. (I also got to see Guangzhou through local eyes, which was a real treat.)
It made me think back to when I interviewed a retired nuclear physicist in Canada years ago, also on the occasion of his 60th wedding anniversary. He and his wife were clearly still very much in love despite the intervening years since they first wed.
I asked him what he was the hardest job he had ever had to do in life: “My marriage,” he said. “We made sure to always work hard at it.”
Lenny and Gloria have always worked hard, and put heart and soul into whatever they have chosen to do, whether in business or personal relationships. That’s probably why their marriage looks like it has been an Eastern breeze.
Tags: #Asia, #China, #Fink, #Guangzhou, #Queenstown