My (First) Wedding.......

Actually, it was my ONLY wedding, just not my only marriage.

I was telling this story at school today, and one of my co-workers suggested I blog about it. Thanks, Lynn!

[I'm also trying to multi-task, which is always risky for me. I'm supposed to be paying attention to an online department meeting, but I have trouble just listening and watching.]

When I married my baby-daddy (doesn't that sound better than "ex-husband"?), we had a formal church wedding, not really that big, but big enough. It was at 8:00 PM because I wanted like a gazillion candles. A gazillion candles put off a hell of a lot of heat in June in the South. And a gazillion yellow roses (it was the year after Princess Diana got married, and I was trying to outdo her, I guess) weigh a gazillion pounds when they are in a piece of foam that has been soaked in ice water to keep them fresh.

My maid-of-honor, one of my best friends from high school [why did I say that? who the hell else would you have for a maid of honor?], was there for the ceremony but curiously absent for the pictures afterward. Everything was a whirlwind, and I didn't think to question it. I remember being SLIGHTLY irritated that Amanda had disappeared, but we went ahead with the picture-taking and proceeded to the reception.

At the reception I learned that Amanda's parents had been in a terrible car accident the morning of my wedding. Her mother had to be sedated, and they were waiting for Amanda to come to the hospital to authorize surgery on her father's brain and heart. And she came and went through my wedding. I don't know if I'll ever be more touched in my life than I was when I found that out. Everyone in my family knew about it, but they didn't want to tell me on the day of my wedding.

Because we got married so late at night, we had decided to spend the night at a Holiday Inn in the next town and leave for our honeymoon in Daytona the next morning. (What a stupid place to go on a honeymoon. But I digress.) I don't remember how long we stayed at the reception, but I know we did the whole changing-into-our-going-away-clothes, throwing the bouquet (a smaller one designed just for throwing, as it was damn near impossible to toss a "bouquet" that had two dozen yellow roses in it), throwing the bird seed (so we didn't have to pay the church a $25 clean-up fee), and all that jazz.

Amanda's father was in the hospital in the same town where we were spending the night, and I was anxious to get there and see Amanda and check on her parents. But we wanted to go by the Holiday Inn and check in first, as it was getting pretty late by this time.

It should have been a sign.........................

When we checked in at the desk, there was a message from my baby-daddy's MOTHER that he was to call her immediately. Seems he left the reception without saying goodbye to her, and she was sobbing hysterically. [You'd have to know these people...]

We had to leave and drive the 25 MILES BACK to their house instead of going to the hospital. I remember his mother saying to me, "_______, I'm not a horse's ass." I begged to differ.