Here's to Joe and Iris D'Adamo!

Some days you see a milestone that has you saying to yourself, “process that for
a moment.”

For my family, that milestone arrived on Friday and as of this writing will be celebrating
en masse among immediate and extended family at the Napa Elks Lodge today. My parents,
as in Joe and Iris D’Adamo, uttered the famous words “I do” at St. Helena Catholic Church
on December 22, 1957. St. Helena is a town with a population of about 5,000 people in
Northern California in the Napa Valley, which is located in the Northern part of the San
Francisco Bay Area.

I know I speak for my four siblings (Katherine, Dorene, Michael and Annette) and many
others but 60 years of marriage is an achievement that no single adjective could do justice.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau based on 2010 studies, only 5% of married couples
reach 60 years of marriage. Let that sink in for just a moment.  

So how much has life changed since 1957? I could come up with a list long enough to
measure first downs but here are a few: 1) The cost of gas was 24 cents per gallon, 2)
The final new episode of I Love Lucy aired on CBS, 3) Elvis Presley purchased a mansion
in Memphis and called it Graceland.

As a 45 year old who has been married for 14 years, I consider myself incredibly blessed
to be raised in an environment where such structure existed. That milestone becomes
exceedingly significant in an era where divorce rates have greater odds than a coin flip.

My parents are a prime example of those who lived the American dream. Both were born
and raised in Italy but irony is that they met in the United States. My father’s side of the family
came to the U.S. in 1948 and settled in Napa, CA. My mother’s side came to the U.S. in
1954 and settled in St. Helena, CA, just 14 miles apart. One of my father’s friends had been
dating my mother. This friend, knowing my father was from Italy, said something to the effect
of “Joe I know this gal from Italy. I’d like you to meet her.” That woman was Iris. The two
began dating and later married. The rest as they say is history.

Before I was born, my family was well traveled as my father was in the U.S. Air Force,
spending time stationed in Iceland, Alaska, Wyoming and the Mojave Desert. My father,
however, discovered that military life would be too limiting for a family. So he went into
business as a service station owner in 1965, retiring in 2002.

My mother spent these years as a homemaker and helping my father at the business
so as to facilitate his life. I frequently described my household as being “the last of the
Leave It To Beaver” era, where the husband worked and the mother took care of the
household and the children.

Like most kids, I have not always seen eye-to-eye with my parents but that is part of being
human. I could make a list of various things I learned from my parents throughout the year
but that list might be longer than the New York telephone book.

The things I learned include but are not limited to kindness, compassion, integrity, and the
value of a strong work ethic. I would be remiss not to include cooking as it pertains to my
mother. My family grew up eating some of the most heavenly Italian food on planet Earth.
As a cook, I couldn’t hold a torch to my mother but I do believe I have applied enough of
what I learned from her to be considered at least a functional cook.

I would also be remiss not to include my father’s skills as an entrepreneur. Though I do not
own a business, as a route sales representative, we are told to treat our route like a business.
On a daily basis, I find myself speaking my father’s language when dealing with consumers.

Most people would probably say this about their parents but any experience or endeavor
that I or any of my siblings wanted to pursue, they supported us even if it was not lockstep
with what they believed.

In the meantime, my family is ready to party like it’s 1957.

Cheers, mom and dad. We love you!