Give Me Your Word

I have been thinking recently about what binds a couple together and the love that they share for each other as both my grandparents are celebrating their anniversaries in the coming weeks.

Next year as it will be both their diamond and golden anniversaries I am going to try and compose a song for them and write the lyrics to celebrate what will be a wonderful occasion for them both.

Len-And-Dorothy

On the 26th March 2014 my father’s parents will have been married for 59 years.  My Grandpa said that he met my Grandma when she was just twelve and then spent the eight years that followed persuading her that they should get married,

They married in a Methodist church in Manchester when Grandpa was 22 and Grandma was 20 and she walked down the aisle carrying a bouquet of cream roses.  Following the ceremony many of those in the church wanted to know how Manchester City were doing as they were playing in the FA cup semi final and there were many keen supporters in congregation.  Luckily they beat Sunderland 1 – 0. 🙂

The number one record in the UK charts on the day they married was “Give Me Your Word” by Tennesse Ernie Ford

When I asked my Pepa why they chose the spring time to marry I expected him to give a beautiful romantic reason, however he said that it was to make the most of the tax allowances LOL.

They have been very happy together and I wish them many more years in each others company.

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John-and-Carol

Coincidentally on the 10th April my mother’s parents will be have been married for 49 years also  They met 14 months before they married, my Nana was 18 and my Grandad was 21.  They married in Staffordshire and they had a beautiful wedding with my Nana carrying a bouquet full of pink carnations.

The number one record in the UK charts on their wedding day was “Concrete and the Clay” by unit 4 plus 2.

However when I was searching on the internet I found this video of the record that was number one in the United States at the time and I wanted to share it, check out the dancing 🙂

To help celebrate their lives together I have written my first Haiku, I am still not sure that I should have used the word love twice 🙂

The sweet sound of love
Is the Charming songs of birds
That whisper “my love”

87 thoughts on “Give Me Your Word”

    1. Thank you very much, it’s definitely something I’d like to work on more. The haiku rule is quite strict which I like but the fact I can write anything creates a sparkle of fun. Definitely something to try with a spare 10 minutes.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. It is truly lovely to grow up around people who are in love and care a lot for each other. I have learnt a great deal from them and would love something similar in my own future.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  3. Hi Heather! In our world today, it’s always so nice to hear of long and successful marriages. I like your poetry. You speak from your heart and that is what matters.. (:

    Reply

    1. Speaking from the heart is so important. I’m working on a great piece at the minute called “O Lieb” by Liszt and the poetic translation is beautiful. Just the opening is ‘O love, love as long as you can.’ Diana Damrau performs it magnificently.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

      1. My oldest daughter had aspirations to sing opera.. She has put it on the back burner but I am sure the desire will always be there..

      2. Some of my friends at the RCS performed last year with Susan Boyle she never gave up on her dream and when she got her opportunity she took it, so it’s never too late.
        Best wishes
        Charlotte

  5. There are not so many people around today with the staying power of your grand-parents. They have done well.

    As for the haiku, I am troubled by a thought:
    only male birds sing, so female birds never whisper ‘my love.’

    Reply

    1. That is true Rod, but perhaps it is better to have felt love for a short time than never experience it at all. Sometimes we can try to create a relationship into the love we want, however, it is an illusion and can’t last. But hopefully true love will always find us. It comes in many forms. Love is about feeling happy when someone else is happy. Whether that be a friend, brother, mother…

      I didn’t know that only male birds sing, how interesting but I’m sure the girls say it under their breath with the twinkle in their eye.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Fingers crossed it will sound nice, composition is a weaker area for me but I love the idea of expressing myself and the theme through music I create.
      If all else fails I’ll make a collage 🙂

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  8. What a sweet post! Congratulations to both sets of grandparents! My grandparents were married after knowing one another for only a few days. That way my grandfather could avoid the military draft and not have to go off to war (World War I). They had 9 children and remained married until my grandmother passed away. (Oh, I do remember Freddie and the Dreamers and that song!)

    Reply

  9. Thanks for sharing the anniversary celebration news. My late wife and I met when I was a senior and she a junior in high school in 1971. Our first date was on April 1, 1972 and we were April Fools for each other every day after until she passed in 2008. Meeting the love of your life at a young age is a truly beautiful thing and a real miracle. My wife and I noticed how few of the people our age were still together with the person they married at a young age as out anniversaries ticked by. Congratulations to your grandparents on their own miracles of true and lasting love.

    Reply

    1. That was truly beautiful, I especially love the phrase about you being fools for each other. I’d bottle up your love story and send it to the Movie producers, I would love to watch how your relationship grew together through the years. I love a good Rom-com you see and I can imagine the scenes in my head now.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  10. Love the haiku — you do have the heart and soul of a poet 🙂

    Try this definition of love, also a chart buster song by Nat King Cole. I’m sure your parents and grandparents would know this one …

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JErVP6xLZwg

    L is for the way you look at me
    O is for the only one I see
    V is very, very extraordinary
    E is even more than anyone that you adore

    And love is all that I can give to you
    Love is more than just a game for two
    Two in love can make it, take my heart and please don’t break it
    Love was made for me and you

    L is for the way you look at me
    O is for the only one I see
    V is very, very extraordinary
    E is even more than anyone that you adore

    And love is all that I can give to you
    Love is more than just a game for two
    Two in love can make it, take my heart and please don’t break it
    Love was made for me and you

    Love was made for me and you
    Love was made for me and you

    Reply

    1. Hi Jimmy, This song is one of my dearest love songs, I first came across it in my childhood favourite film ‘The Parent Trap’ .

      Great choice! In fact I’ll say Bravo!!

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  11. some stories do have a happy ending. those are exactly the stories we must keep in our hearts. I have been thinking about love lately, and one description that came to mind is:

    “Perhaps love is really measured in the distance we’ve come together – which is what makes it so precious.”

    I might not have thought so when I was younger, but then I hadn’t traveled much along the road with my companion.

    Reply

    1. That’s a beautiful description Bill, I think it describes the value of love well. As in time together can be a measure of how great the love is. But when you know you’re in love, it’s slightly unmeasurable. I think it’s like a dimmer light being switched to full power. It’s the same world just brighter.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  13. What lovely role models you have in your grandparents! Such a solid foundation upon which to build your own life. Congratulations to both couples. Nice Haiku. Wishing you well with your song composition and lyric writing. That will be such a thoughtful and lovely gift to share with them. Good luck!

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much, they are truly great life inspirations. It is important to live your life as well as make it. Sometimes I can get too deeply involved in my practice but I have a great analogy my teacher told me for this:

      Education can often be like a bus ride, at first everyone is rushing and squabbling for the front seat. But it is the ones who strive for the destination but take time to smell the roses in the fields that they pass.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  14. 49 and 59 years? Wow. That is great. I like the first video the best of the songs. Um, the one from the U.S. I’m afraid and impressed at the same time. The song wasn’t bad, but what was up with the kicking side to side during the performance? It looks quite uncomfortable to me. And I LOVE Nat King Cole! His voice is awesome! Especially with Christmas songs. Must have every year. 😀

    Reply

    1. Hi Eric, Jim hit on one of my favourite songs sung beautifully by Nat King Cole, I bet they were exhausted jumping around like that whilst singing and playing!

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  16. Love those are your eyes that shine like stars,
    your smile that shines like the sun,
    your voice entrainne me in a wonderful world
    all these words that are not said but it still shares
    this fussion between our souls …..;-)

    Reply

  18. Charlotte, what wonderful memories you’ve captured here, of both sets of your grandparents! I’m going to be a grandmother for the first time this May, and your writing and photos are just a treasure.

    Reply

    1. Oh Mary that’s wonderful news you’re such a caring person your grandchild will be very lucky to have you ;). Remember to leave little stories of your life for them to read and discover I had to call my Grandparents to ask for the colours of their flowers because the photos I had scanned were black and white and I nearly gave away the surprise. I loved that my Grandpa pursued my Grandma even when she dated other boys he said he didn’t give up 🙂 lol.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

      1. What a great story about your calling your grandparents to ask about the colours of their flowers. My husband and I first met in person at a Sunday afternoon concert of the Boston Classical Orchestra at Faneuil Hall in Boston. We found each other online through the Match.com dating website! His “handle” — nickname — was T-Bone2, which I thought might mean T-bone steak, but it was actually short for trombone, which is the instrument he plays.

      2. It’s great to read about how you met your husband. It’s sound like the perfect script for a film, how long did it take you both to pluck up the courage to meet ? I hope you dont mind me asking but it sounds very romantic 🙂

        Best wishes
        Charlotte

      3. We exchanged emails and phone calls for about a month before meeting in person. I remember climbing up the stairs to our balcony seats at Faneuil Hall after meeting him outside on a cold, sunny Sunday afternoon just after New Year’s, thinking, “Wow, this could be something really great!” It was.

  19. Love the first picture in black and white. I think you should buy a tile on my lifewall.org under the wedding category and post it for all eternity. Then you can buy a another wedding tile thru the lifeline on the first tile and add your parents’ wedding pic and now you have formed your own wall for history. Just a thought:) Great pics. Love the old pics, and 59 years is amazing.

    Reply

      1. I have, but not many and not in quite a while. Today my muse inspired me, and thank you for the kind words my friend 🙂

      2. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
        My heart beats wildly —
        She hits in a crescendo
        Passionate passage
        ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
        Again your inspiration requires poetry as an explanation. 🙂

      3. I’m happy to inspire you to write more poetry Jim, you have a talent for it 🙂 When you have finished working on our collaboration I will post the piece but please don’t worry about rushing to complete it as I know that you are really busy at the moment.

        All the best
        Charlotte

  25. Congratulations to your grandparents. 🙂 Your tie in with the number one hits for their wedding day is an interesting way to look back musically on two lasting relationships.

    Reply

    1. I really enjoy the history if music part of my course and I guess it’s hard wired into me now to think of this, I asked them both what their wedding song was they danced to and my Nana said she couldn’t remember dancing and my Grandpa said he thought theirs was called the Anniversary Waltz.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  26. Boy, does this take me back. I remember Freddie and the Dreamers. And Unit 4 Plus 2. Lots of fun to listen to. And watch on shows like Shindig and Hullabaloo. There something so positive about that music. Happy Anniversary to both sets of grandparents.

    Reply

    1. Hi Don, It was amazing the difference ten years made between the hits in the mid-1950’s and the hits in the mid-1960’s. I read that the 1960s was a very vibrant and inventive period after the austerity of the post war 1950s although I think Rock and Roll had already changed the music scene in the USA.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

    1. Thank you for the link Hilary, my music theatre training certainly helps with this 😉 I remember doing a particularly energetic tap routine whilst singing and my mouth being so dry afterwards my upper lip stuck to my teeth whilst I was smiling 😉 and coming out to sing ‘The Deadwood Stage’ with actions just after completing an energetic circular walking version of ‘The Rhythm of Life’ with the whole BTEC group, I kept thinking breathe, breathe.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  28. Congratulations to your grandparents. My wife and I made it to our Golden two years ago.

    Responding to the definition of love on your Facebook page; a similar but slightly more altruistic definition that I’ve used for years is, ‘Love is a deep concern for another’s highest good.” A definition that explains the longevity of your folk’s marriages.

    Press on with the poetry, and don’t forget to share some of it with us.

    Terry.

    Reply

    1. I love your definition Terry; my grandparents really do look after each other. I do need to practise my poetry more, English Literature/Language were my least favourite subjects at school.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  29. A lovely post and congratulations to both sets of grandparents. My parents managed nearly 54 years together. I remember both the Unit 4 Plus 2 and the Freddie and the Dreamers songs though I was only six years old at the time the records came out. Freddie was my dream man at the time!

    Reply

  31. This is such a wonderful post and you actually have so much info about their marriage. I’m going to first poke my parents so that I can have a little more info regarding their marriage though I have seen their wedding pictures many times but never asked them the details. Then I will ask my maternal and paternal grandmother’s about the same. It is going to be a really interesting 😉 🙂 Now I have so much info to gather 😛

    Reply

    1. I’m happy to inspire you Gaurab, my Grandpa remembered that the Grand National, a big horse race, was on the same day in Liverpool and for the previous three days it had rained none stop. I must dig a bit deeper too in preparation for an anniversary song.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

  34. Oh, and p.s.– My sweetie and I have been married for 15 wonderful years. I am more in love with him than ever, and I am so thankful to God that He led me to my guy!

    Reply

  35. Beautiful post about lovely and precious memories.

    My grandparents were married for 53 years before my grandfather died. My grandmother passed at 100 yrs and 5 months on Mother’s Day six years ago. Avoa (grandmother in Portuguese) told me many stories of her life. I wrote a novel with some embellishments that I hope to publish one day.

    My parents were married 54 years before my dad died. Their generations are known as the greatest generations of all time because of their strength, resilience and determination to survive through war, famine and hard times. They are to be cherished and loved for giving us a chance to do better in this world. God bless them all.

    Thank you for sharing the lovely photos! Xo

    Reply

  36. I forget to mention that my second husband and I will be married for 15 years this June. I was previously married for 25 years. This one is the one for life! I found my soul mate. Thanks to God!

    Reply

    1. Hi Janice, I really admire the way these relationships overcame so much to flourish and blossom no matter what life threw at them. I am so pleased for you and your husband and I hope that you both have many, many years of happiness in front of you 🙂

      My Dad’s cousin, Audrey Howard, wrote a book based on my Great Grandmother’s life experiences. If you do publish the novel please let me know as i am sure that it will be a wonderful read.

      Best wishes
      Charlotte

      Reply

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