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This couple shares 47 years, beat cancer twice and are now stealing hearts in these photos

Meet the Brewingtons. Their photographer daughter posted their anniversary pics and they’ve gone viral.

When photographer Amber Robinson posted photos of her parents on her company Facebook page and on Instagram last week commemorating their 47th wedding anniversary, she didn’t think it would become a poster moment for the hashtag #relationship goals, but that’s what happened.

Those six photos unfolded a love story that proves the traditional wedding ceremony vows for “in sickness and in health” are real.

“In this wonderful creative industry that I worked in, I focus so much on providing couple hours with a day of beautiful photography,” Robinson posted. “To be honest, rarely do I stop to think about the day, weeks, months or years that follow a wedding day.

“So today I share with you what those years after can look like when true love exists. These are my parents: married for 47 years, they have triumphed over cancer … twice. Have raised two successful daughters. They have been poor together and rich together. They have fed, sheltered, and advised countless lost souls. They love with out expectation and give freely, whatever it is they have to offer.

“I am SO proud to call them Mom and Dad. They are the epitome of where I strive to be in my own marriage and a constant reminder that a wedding is only a day, but a marriage is forever.”

Robinson’s mother, Wanda Brewington, is 67. Her dad, Marvin, is 70. The couple recently shared their secrets of love with Essence, and they include “honesty and communication, never going to bed upset, and finding a way to compliment your partner.”

The two met at Livingston College in Salisbury, North Carolina, and were married in 1970 in Wanda Brewington’s hometown of Wilkesboro. Marvin Brewington was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1973 and with colon cancer in 1987. In 2013, he’d learn he was living with prostate cancer, and that same year Wanda Brewington was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The two told Essence that their “love for each other and faith in God” was the bond that helped them through their health problems. “We made a vow on our wedding day, through sickness and health, and have always been determined that we can and will overcome anything. On the days that one of us is down, the other one picks us up.”

Robinson, a mother of four, lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. She recently told Yahoo! Lifestyle that growing up, she thought “it was disgusting to see our parents hug and kiss so much. But now, as a married woman, I understand.

“But we also grew up with a realistic version of love — my dad has multiple sclerosis and survived prostate cancer twice, and he leaned on my mom for support.”

 

Kelley Evans is a digital producer at Andscape. She is a food passionista, helicopter mom and an unapologetic Southerner who spends every night with the cast of The Young and the Restless by way of her couch.