starting a Picture Perfect life

Newlyweds Kelli Edwards, Scott Halyard IV, and Emily Jones, Preston McGowan were listed in the January 20th Weddings/Celebrations section of The New York Times. I had saved that section of the newspaper and forgotten about it. Now that St. Valentine's Day approaches, I thought the time would be appropriate to introduce them.

One habit I have, and why, I am not totally sure, is when I check the wedding section of newspapers, I check to see if any black people I know were recently hitched, and of those who do marry and are listed, I look to see if it appears as if the in-laws on both sides are still married. Sometimes in-laws aren’t together and still have the same name, but if they are located at two different residences, this is a clue that they may not be together.

I guess my point is, and my thinking is with all of the divorces, single, and alternative parenting we have in this country, it is revitalizing to see two people who love one another starting a life together with a complete family unit. Both have parents who from what I can ascertain who are still together. If they should decide to have children, both are educated, gainfully employed, and appear to be able to afford whatever number of children they decide to have.

I am not suggesting people who don’t marry and come from broken homes or lack advanced degrees don’t have a chance to experience a successful marriage. There are living examples of people who do just fine and surround us everyday, and some of us are testimonies to the fact that a lack of an advanced education or cohesive extended family or an average paying job aren’t indicators of a life of failure and doom.

However, it is hard to deny, with these factors (education, career, family) in place, these two lovely couples are already starting out with an enormous advantage. And these factors should be stressed more within our community.

Read Emily Jones, Preston McGowan Announcement & Watch Video

Kelli Edwards, Scott Halyard IV Annoucement

Photo Credit:

Left: Photo of Edwards & Halyard, NY Times/Shawn Connell/Christian Oth Photography
Right: Photo of Jones & McGowan, NY Times/