50 Years And Still Going Strong

As many of you know my parents will celebrate 50 years of marriage on June 27th, 2020 – we’re so proud of them reaching this milestone and want to do something special to celebrate this with family and friends.  In the age of COVID-19, celebrations come in many different forms and we thought it would be great to get a collection of zoom shout-outs from all of you that can be recorded and played for them on their actual anniversary day (Saturday, 6/27) and they’ll have a keepsake for years to come.

Here’s an example I recorded today with a few of the fellas sharing their perspective on what it takes to make a marriage work and then their individual shout-outs: Sample Zoom Shout-Out    USE: 50thanniversary! as the password.

Sounds great and you’d like to get involved?  Well that’s just what we were hoping so read on for some very simple instructions on how you can give the golden couple a shout-out on their very special day. 

1.       Keep it a Secret: I know it seems odd to put something out on the web and then say “keep it a secret” but help me out here folks.  We don’t want this to show up on facebook or social media where my parents access regularly—I don’t think my parents even know this site exists so it’s basically a secret to them.

2.       Video Recording:  I have created a zoom room  that you can use to record your video—it’s setup to record automatically so if you click on the link below the recording begins as soon as you enter the room so all you have to do is start talking and give your shout-out (remember, you’re live as soon as you sign-in).  Once you have completed your shout-out you can simply hit the “leave” button and you’ll be all set.  You can also copy this link and text it to other family and friends—the more the merrier—and you can do the recordings right from your phone.

Jimmy & Silvia Smith’s 50th Anniversary Shout-Out Zoom Room

3.       Video File: The video will come to me directly so there’s nothing more you’ll need to do—I plan to make the material available on this site so remember that you’re talking in a public setting even though it may just be you during the recording.

4.       Room Etiquette: This zoom room is set to be open 24x7 through 6/26 so that’s 10 days. There’s no schedule so you may find others in the room when you join.  This is a celebration so feel free to engage with one another and record group discussions about marriage, my parent’s 50th year together, how you know my parents, etc—you can always come back later and record solo if that’s your intentions—you’re not limited to just participating in 1 video.  Please be courteous and just wing it—we don’t want to put too many instructions on this…and keep it free form.

5.       A Few Ideas for Questions: Feel free to comment on the blog with any additional questions you think would be interesting for this activity:

a.       What do you think is the recipe to success is for making it 50 years?  What’s the #’1 or 2 ingredients?

b.       What makes a great wife?

c.       What makes a great husband?

d.       Why is 50 years such an accomplishment?

e.       What is the biggest challenge in making it to 50 years?

f.        Any great story about the two of them…

g.       What do you admire about their partnership?

h.       What do you think they would say their biggest accomplishment was?

i.        Memory lane—you remember when they, had their first kid, their first care, their first house, etc…a good old, I remember when they…