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| Liefde. |
These are my grandparents. This portrait was taken on their wedding day in April 1942. She was barely 22, posing with borrowed flowers, mortified that she wasn't wearing her hat. He was almost 30, dapper even then in his 3-piece suit, the son of a farmer determined to be more, do more. The Nazis had invaded two years before, and Holland wouldn't be liberated for another three. In those years, their first-born son died in infancy, a daughter came soon after, and they were forced to move several times as their homes were either destroyed or used as headquarters. My grandfather was arrested by - and escaped from - the Germans. When the war ended, the village where our family has lived for nearly 700 years was decimated, and my grandfather rebuilt it with his own two hands. Together, they built their life. Five children, 12 grandchildren, and as of this writing, 9 great-grandchildren. They were married for 53 1/2 years. My grandmother still lives in the house my grandfather built.
I am incredibly proud to be theirs.
