So, believe it or not, it is true, I am actually old enough to have been married for 8 years, and to have 4 children... HOLY CRAP when did that happen?
Today marks 8 years of marriage for Cute Hubs and I. It really has been quite the journey, and an interesting ride. Any plans we had are long gone, nothing is what we expected, but it has turned out better than we could have imagined (I think!).
Things got off on a really rocky start for our marriage, looking back it was humorous, but at the time, it was just overwhelming!
Carl and I chose Valley Falls State Park for our wedding. Since we are both fairly low-key people and we weren't looking for a big wedding, it was perfect. We planned on getting married at the water, rented both pavilions, and were excited that the children were going to have a playground to play on while the adults enjoyed time together...
Well, if you know ANYTHING about us, you know that nothing we ever do goes as planned. It really is true that God laughs whenever we make plans for something.
About 5 days prior to the wedding, I find out that the caterer decided not to do our wedding... the best thing was, he never told me! I found out because he wouldn't return calls, nice huh? So I rushed around, found a buffet restaurant that was in my budget, and fixed all of that. I figured, that was the worst of what would happen and we were all set.
Wrong.
Two days prior to our wedding I got a phone call from someone who 'claimed' to be the park ranger about a horrible storm that had ravaged the park, knocking down hundred year old trees on the the playgrounds, killing the electric grid, and leaving the park a disaster. I assumed it was a friend of ours, Dave K., who is known for his practical jokes... so I made a crude comment, hung up the phone, and made a mental note to try to figure out how to screw with Dave the next chance I got... Well then the phone rang again... it really was the Ranger, and the park was really a disaster! But being the people we are, we decided it was not a big deal, the prison workers were cleaning it up, and really, we didn't need electric for a day-time wedding.
We had a wonderful cook-out style rehearsal dinner with Carl's parents and our friends and family the night before the wedding. It was great, even my Granny and GrandPa from Illinois were there, which was quite the trek! Things were fairly uneventful, other than a cheese shortage, which went undetected by almost everyone, and we all had a great time.
The next morning came with heavy fog, and a forecast of rain... I went to the salon to have my hair done, and then went to my In-Laws' house (which is a half mile from the park) to dress. I got to spend some really special time with Frank (my mother-in-law's father) that morning. I had been sitting with him daily for months and really become close with him.
Then, as I sat there, it began to rain.
It rained the hardest I have ever seen it rain, and I am not kidding. Finally it stopped, or so we thought, and then it began again. I was so glad I had rented both pavilions! There was no way with all that rain, that a wedding standing on the side of a waterfall was going to happen.
I was driven into the park, the rain had stopped and then I noticed that only one pavilion was set up, that the buffet tables had been pushed apart to allow for the flowered arch... My Aunt (the florist) came running to me, dripping wet, in her 'work' clothes offering to move it all back out to the water edge, and explaining what had happened.
She had set everything up riverside when the first rain came, so she quickly moved it all to the second pavilion, where the rain all of a sudden caused a small mudslide into said pavilion, rendering it unusable for the wedding ceremony or for the meal afterward! Our only option at that time (since it was pouring rain) was to move it into the dining pavilion and make the best of it...
My poor aunt was so wet, and tired, that I told her she had better not move anything, it was perfect, and would be fine! So, my dad walked me to see my soon-to-be husband, and all of 4 minutes (maybe 5?) later, Carl's father had finished the ceremony, and we turned to our guests (who were sitting at their meal spots) and said, "Well, now we are married... Let's eat!"
It did clear up for some pictures, and really, what mattered was that all of the people we love were there to be with us and celebrate our love for one another... but man, that day was a disaster!
Now here we are, 8 years and 4 children later, and stronger than ever. I guess "The worse the wedding, the better the marriage" is true... because our wedding couldn't have been much worse, and our marriage couldn't be much better.
I love you Cute Hubs. I can't wait for the next 8 years of our lives, and to see where they take us.
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