EILEEN ADLER

Fifty years ago, my husband and I walked down the aisle to begin our lives as a married couple. We were so young, so in love, and I couldn’t have been happier. That summer witnessed many firsts, but one of the momentous events was the landing on the moon a few weeks earlier, July 20, rocketing on the Apollo Eleven landing its lunar module, Eagle and we listened to the words of Neil Armstrong: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” But for many of the baby boomers, the Woodstock Festival will always be associated with the summer of 1969. Woodstock began on August 15, ending on August 18 with over 400,000 people in attendance. On August 17, Sunday, Jimmy Hendrix performed his now-iconic rendition of the U.S. national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” This performance may be considered the greatest of all time, and on the same day, we were married.

            That’s our big sister taking the photo of my twin brother and me (I’m on the left) in the now “family” carriage. When my brother and I were four-and-a-half-years old, a neighbor family became parents to twin boys, and my parents gave our friends the twin carriage for their babies. 

Following my high school graduation in 1965, I found a summer job as a cashier at a beach club along the Jersey shore and this handsome, tall, charismatic and slightly older boy, having completed his first year of college, worked at the next-door beach club. He would often come to my snack bar for lunch – was the draw the food or me! We talked for hours, and one of our conversations uncovered the long-ago family story, which has become one of my most treasured stories. Yes, my husband is the big brother of the twin boys who resided in the family carriage. After dating for four years, I proposed, and we selected this very important date, August 17, for on that day, my husband’s paternal and maternal grandparents were also married, celebrating milestone anniversaries. 

Self-care Ritual: Memories and family stories weave through our life, enriching us with each re-telling. Share a family story with someone special.