Sixteen years ago today, I posted Frank Sinatra’s 1957 recording of ‘Close to You’ to commemorate my parents’ wedding anniversary. ‘Close to You’ is the title song of the first Sinatra album my father gave my mother, and marks the beginning of not just their love affair with each other, but their joint love affair with Sinatra.

That was their 44th anniversary, a praiseworthy milestone if not a distinctive one. Well, today they are married for 60 years… now that’s a cause for celebration!

This live recording of ‘Close to You’ is not from the 1957 album gifted to my mother, but from a December 1943 episode of Sinatra’s CBS radio show Songs by Sinatra. That was five months after my father’s birth and 19 months before my mother’s.

This song’s lyrics had special meaning to my parents in the late 60s because my dad was in basic training with the Army and then in Vietnam, while my mom was raising their first child, my sister Amy.

Fortunately that separation was short-lived, and they have remained close to each other for 60 years and counting. Through good times and bad, richer and poorer, in sickness and health… the traditional wedding vows are a cliché but they feel a lot more meaningful looking back on six decades of marriage that embody them.

I’m in awe of that level of commitment, and I’m blessed to have such a loving and sturdy example to follow as I approach 29 years of marriage with my own extraordinary wife.

I remember a time in my late teens when I realized my parents were more than just my mom and dad… they were participants in a great love story. A love story that spanned decades, continents, and a war.

More than 30 years later, that love story is still going strong, despite the obstacles that age and fate inevitably serve up. I am lucky to be a product of that great romance, and honored to have been its witness.

Mom and Dad, with all my love, Happy Anniversary!