Ash Wednesday AND 20th Wedding Anniversary

What is a couple to do!!??  The Catholic wife and the protestant husband are celebrating 20 years of wedded bliss, but it's Ash Wednesday and we are supposed to fast and abstain from meat!

Anyway, that aside, 20 years ago at this moment, we were finishing up our rehearsal dinner party with all our families together after what anyone would agree was a week straight out of a book on Murphy's Law.

On February 2nd, as I walked into my work area, I was greeted by my supervisor who told me that my mother was being rushed to the hospital.  I turned around and quickly made my way to the emergency room at St. Vincent's Hospital.  My mom was in excruciating pain with kidney stones.  They admitted her and began to treat her, she ended up staying in the hospital up to the day before the wedding.  Meanwhile, my knight's car was towed to the garage for a transmission overhaul.  Luckily, he lived near the university, so he walked to work, a day later, MY car went on the blink and needed to be towed for repairs with transmission problems.  My mom, being in the hospital, let me use her car to get around.

While my mom was in the hospital, my knight finished his work at his fellowship. I ended up leaving my job a week early in order to help my mom in the hospital, make last-minute wedding details, and pack.  Actually, both my knight and I were packing up our belongings in preparation for our move to Houston, TX the week after our wedding.  Yes, did I mention that??  Not only were we getting married, my mom in the hospital, both our cars out of commission, but we were moving 600 miles away for a new position for Doug and life for us.  We both had to pack up his house and my apartment, coordinating the moving company to our separate residences and despite all that my knight made arrangements for a quick get-away to Gatlinburg, TN.   All the while, his family starting coming in from the different places around the country and setting up house in a nearby hotel as the date got closer.

On Wednesday, the week of our wedding, my mother's doctors said that they couldn't reach the kidney stones with the basket procedure and that she was a good candidate for the Lithotripsy at another hospital across town, but they couldn't get her there....not sure why, but they said that I would have to discharge her and take her there myself.  I wish I could remember why, but anyway, I called my knight and he and I got her transferred to the other hospital that afternoon and she had the treatment, stayed there over night and was released on Thursday.  I stayed with my mom that night at her condo to make sure she was passing the blasted into smaller pieces safely.  She did great, what a relief, a day in one hospital did what 10 days in another one across town couldn't do, and nearly lost her during their stupidity........sigh.

Anyway, on Friday, my mom and I decided that she would forgo the rehearsal and save her strength for the rehearsal dinner that night.  It was a grand time with both our families together for the first time.  Everyone had a good time and it was a celebration like none other with my mom's ordeal behind her.  Both of our cars were repaired and it looked like the wedding day will take place as planned.

Saturday was a grey overcast day, but in my heart it was sunshine all the way.  The wedding was in the afternoon, so I still had some time to check on mom, pick up the grooms cake at the bakery that I specially ordered for my knight and get my son over to my younger brother's house with his tux.  All was going as planned until my dad showed up at my younger brothers house to meet up with my other brother to go shopping for guns or something. When my sister-in-law....my maid of honor, went to meet me at the hair salon, she couldn't get out of the garage for my dad's car.  I had to go get my hair done with mom and then pick her up later, which made us late for the photographer.  The men had my son, so he wasn't dressed for the pictures, and no one had cellphones then......

Well, luckily one of the guys had his head screwed on half right and remembered the time and got my son back to their house and dressed in time to get him to the wedding site barely on time.  They actually got there before us and there was my knight's family all wondering where we were and if I was standing him up!!  Fat chance!! HA!


Well, with all that the wedding went on without a hitch, the pastor even said that to my sister-in-law.  If only he knew what had preceded that day!

and I wouldn't trade any of these memories for all the money in...anywhere.  

Marriage is and has been a total blessing in my life and should be a respected and protected way of life.