Present Collides with Past

This Friday is Sgt. Dad's and my 17Th Anniversary! We've officially smashed all the statistics and those critics who whispered behind our backs that it wouldn't last! I'm not sure what we'll do to celebrate- perhaps buy shiny, new, studded tires for my van! Yippie- the pleasure of being an adult!
Anyway, that's not the real purpose of this post. In thinking about my anniversary, I remembered another 17Th anniversary- my parents. Since this is an odd number and not one of the "big anniversaries", you may wonder why this one stands out in my memory. The reason is this: on the occasion of my parents 17Th anniversary I was 12 years old. It was one of the first, if not THE first, times I got to babysit my younger brother and sister. I remember "baby sister" and myself staying up late and watching our first RATED R movie- on TV- it was Rambo. I actually thought it was a pretty good movie. We also made a really big sign to hang on the wall wishing our parents "Happy Anniversary". This was in our old house on Campus Drive. I still remember standing on that old ORANGE couch to tape up the sign. (That couch is hideous in my memory. I even had a nightmare once while sleeping on it when I was sick. It had some kind of black/white/orange stripe pattern and in my nightmare it came to life and was like some kind of crazed jack-o-lantern trying to eat me!!) I don't know how late Mom and Dad were out; my memories of that night are sketchy. I wonder how much the rest of my family remembers of that night? I wonder if my boys will have a memory of my 17Th anniversary?
NOTE: Before I hurt Mom's feelings; I'm sure that the couch wasn't hideous. I'm sure you realize how things change in your memories. I imagine that next time I visit, I'll look at a picture from the past and find the couch to be quite nice.