The 1980's - Moving On

The 1980's were a great decade for women - Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman Justice appointed to the Supreme Court, Sally Ride became the first woman in space, and Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman to run for the office of Vice President. However, in the Kosiewicz house, we girls had already learned from our parents that anything was possible if we were willing to work for it. We feel truly blessed that we had such great role models - our parents always encouraged each other's interests, both personal and career wise. And as each of us finished high school and left home, Mom and Dad encouraged us to pursue our passions, whether it meant going off to college or joining the workforce.

As Lynn & Karen finished up high school in the early 80's, Mom and Dad finally had the time to start doing some things for themselves. Mom took some pottery classes and Dad went back to school to take classes toward his PhD. In fact, Mom actually took one of the math classes that Dad taught at Tri-C. As the semester was drawing to a close and Mom was dilly-dallying on taking her final, Dad warned her that if she didn't finish up in time, he would fail her just like any other student - there was no nepotism in his classroom! Needless to say, Mom got it together and ended up with an A on the final and for the class.

In 1984, Ed and Marge also celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and took a trip to Hawaii. Below is a picture of Dad performing with one of the hula dancers - do you think maybe they are doing the coconut polka? Or maybe the chicken dance hula?

While they were in Hawaii, we think that maybe mom made a sacrifice to one of the island fertility gods for grandchildren, because over the next five years, Megan Lynn Schwemmer was born on January 9, 1985, Michael Kenneth Schwemmer was born on May 22, 1987, Ashley Marie Kosiewicz was born on November 1, 1988 and Glenn Edward Walker finished out the decade on September 23, 1989 - the same birthday as Mom. It seems just as they had gotten everyone out (well, maybe with the exception of Lynn's and Karen's collies, Mitzi and Willie), that their house was soon filled up again with the pitter patter of little feet. And as all of our kids can attest, they are wonderful grandparents as well! As parents, we are eternally grateful for all the help Mom and Dad gave us in those early years when our kids were babies.

I don't think we ever appreciated what a special relationship our parents had until we all got married ourselves in the 80's. They made it look so easy, and continue to do so to this day. Although most of us have not been as fortunate in our marriages as our parents are, I think that we have all strived to have what they have and try to be the kind of parents to our children that Mom and Dad were, and still are to us, to this day.

Please share any memories you have of our parent's from the 1980's by clicking on the comments link below.

Party Update

Mom wanted me to pass on some additional information about the party. Dress will be casual, since we are planning on being outside, so dress comfortably! Dinner will be ready around 4.

In addition to our parent's 50th anniversary, we will also be celebrating the marriage of our brother Mike and his wife Missy, who got married this past January.