Ron Howard Celebrates 50th Anniversary of His First Date with Wife Cheryl in Sweet Tribute

It all started 50 years ago for Ron and Cheryl Howard!

On Sunday, the Oscar-winning director celebrated the 50th anniversary of his first date with Cheryl, and showed-off the sweet gifts they got for each other.

“Nov 1 1970 Cheryl & I went on our 1st date. We went to see a re-release of Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad Mad Mad World and then got some pizza at now defunct Barnone’s in Toluca Lake. Quite a start, right?” Howard shared with his fans on Instagram.

“Today we are celebrating with these kind of socks we ordered (Cheryl’s w/my mug got held up) and a trip to our local take-out pizza place,” he added, sharing a photo of socks with Cheryl’s face on them. “We’ll be driving in the same ‘70 VW Bug I picked Cheryl up in 5 decades ago. It runs great. So do we.”

After dating for five years, Ron and Cheryl tied the knot on June 7, 1975, and went on to have four children together: daughters Bryce Dallas Howard, twins Jocelyn Carlyle and Paige Howard and son Reed Cross.

In 2019, Howard opened up to PEOPLE about the instant connection he felt when he met Cheryl as a junior at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, California. “I met her, and there was never anybody else,” he said.

Globe Photos/REX/Shutterstock Ron and Cheryl Howard on their wedding day in 1975.

The filmmaker added that the secret to their long-lasting marriage is “communication.”

“People say, ‘How’d you do it?’ There’s no technique. There’s no tactic other than communication is really important. You have to learn to communicate and have difficult conversations in constructive ways,” the director told PEOPLE.

Howard added, “Beyond that, there’s an element of luck because people either grow together or they don’t and I don’t think you can force that.”