Thirty-Five Years and Counting

Frank and Ruth Okonkwo marked 35 years of marriage on April 12, surrounded by their three children and six grandchildren at a dinner their family had been quietly planning for months. Ruth wore the same color as her wedding dress. Frank wore the same tie. Neither had planned it, and both noticed immediately. The couple met in Lagos in the late 1980s, married young, and built a life together through immigration, graduate school, career changes, and the particular demands of raising a family far from where they both grew up. Their children say they have never once heard their parents go to bed without settling things first, a claim Frank finds slightly embellished but Ruth insists is accurate. The evening ended with dancing, a speech from their eldest son that left the room quiet, and a cake Ruth claimed she was not expecting but absolutely was.