The story of the wooden box
My parents married all those years ago in a small family ceremony in my mother’s family home. Money was almost nonexistent then, so the reality of taking a honeymoon was only a dream for my parents. They said their vows and then both returned to work the next day, and that’s just the way most everyone did back then.
My parents, however, did make a vow to each other on their wedding night. They told each other that someday they would have the honeymoon of their dreams. They promised they would place a dollar in a box every time they made love. They considered it their “honeymoon savings box”, and they knew that, if their love was strong enough, they would one day be able to take a honeymoon form the deposits made to that box.
Times were tough in those days. Daddy worked two jobs to make ends meet and Mother worked just as hard at home raising the ten children God blessed them with. But every time they had time to be together, a dollar was placed in the box, just as they promised it would be.
Daddy never allowed Mother to dip into the honeymoon savings, even though it would have helped out at times. The money would come from somewhere else, but never from the special box they kept tucked away safe in the dresser.
I remember when we were all little and Daddy would come home tired and dirty from his twelve hour shifts. Mother would greet him with a smile and a hot meal. I often heard my Daddy say aloud to Mom that he had a dollar. Mother would simply smile and say “I know just how to spend it!” None of us realized what the story was then.
As we grew older and each one of us married, our parents came to us on the eve of our wedding. They gave us a gift. Inside the package was an empty box. Attached to the box was a card wishing all their love and blessings to our new life and an explanation of what the box was for. We were made to promise that the secret would be safe and we would not share with any of our siblings. It was something that our parents wanted to share when the time was right. Each one of us are now saving for our own honeymoon, compliments of our parents.
On their fiftieth anniversary, my parents finally took the honeymoon of their dreams. They had waited so long for it, and they had saved so much together. I don’t know how much money was in the box when it was opened, but I know that they paid for their trip to hawaii and had plenty of extra spending money. I was so proud to know that they had shared so much love throughout the many years of their marriage.
As they prepared to leave for their trip, I remember my father telling me something that I will never forget. “I am starting another box. It is in your Mother’s suitcase. We are planning a trip to Europe for our seventy-fifth!” You know, I think they just might make it. And thanks to my parents, I’ll always know one thing is for sure: Love can take you right where you want to be.
