Class Fives

Today my grandparents, Elmer and Barbara Herbranson, celebrate their 58th wedding anniversary and just last month my parents celebrated their 34th. In honor of what their commitment means to me, I have posted here a portion of a Boundless webzine article written by John Thomas. John had never known a couple whose marriage was successful until he met Jake and Myrtle, his girlfriend’s grandparents. Their relationship turned his jaded outlook to one of hope. Their success made his more probable.

My dating relationship with Alfie had reached that place where the water current begins picking up speed and you realize the river will soon require a commitment from you that is going to make pulling over to the shore very, very difficult. You and your paddling partner both hear the waterfall in the distance and feel the cool mist on your face, but can't quite bring yourselves to acknowledging it out loud.

Usually, this would be where I would look for a nice place on the shoreline to pull over and camp for a while. Or possibly just grab a life vest and jump. All I could see everywhere around me were wrecked canoes, or rowers yelling at one another, or worse — not talking at all, just sitting there, paddles in the boat, bumping into rocks, waiting for the crash.

But this time was different. Jake and Myrtle were up ahead, having made it through the class five rapids (defined by the International Whitewater Rating System as "extremely difficult; long violent rapids that must be scouted from shore; dangerous drops, unstable eddies, strong, irregular currents and hydraulics"). They were waving me forward to the deep, calm pool of contentment.

"It's a great adventure!" their lives said to me. "Strap on that life vest, hang on and paddle hard! Go for it!" That's what I needed. They provided for me a vision of marriage, a good marriage that handled whatever life threw at them, and thrived — all the way through to the end.

Thank you, Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma for riding the rapids. Someday I’ll find myself out in the “class fives,” and I’ll cling to the legacy you’ve left. You’re my “Jack and Myrtle.”

To read John Thomas' entire article, go to http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001170.cfm.