Wedding Memories

The true joys in life make great stories... and this is definately one of my favorites!

Nothing seemed to go right for weeks leading up to the wedding but the "icing on the cake" was Thursday night when I picked Erin and Connie up from the airport. The flight they booked had them landing at Hobby (the old airport all the way across Houston) instead of IAH. I had never been to that airport before and was running a bit late. Erin called after their plane landed and told me not to rush - that Connie had gotten sick on the plane and now the paramedics were checking her out to see if she was alright. I arrived at the airport a few minutes later and found Erin and an airline rep waiting in baggage claim... without Connie. The airline rep told me that the paramedics took connie to Southwest Memorial Hospital and gave me directions to get there.

On the way to the hospital Erin told me that Connie had been puking for nearly the whole flight (still hasn't gotten past the morning sickness) and was dehydrated and felt like she was going to pass out. They let Connie decide if she wanted them to take her to the hospital or not and she decided to go just to make sure everything was o.k. with the baby. I then realized that Stephen and my house full of guests were probably expecting me home soon. I no more than dialed the number on my cell phone when I looked in my mirror to see flashing lights. I couldn't believe it - I was being pulled over by a Trooper! I hadn't been speeding, my registration was up to date, what in the world did I do?!? He asked me to step out of my car and I handed Erin the phone to explain to my mother what was going on.

The state trooper walked me back to the rear of my truck and explained that as of September 2004 it is illegal to cover any part of the word "TEXAS" on your licence plate. The plate frame that was put on the truck when Stephen purchased it in 2002 was covering the top 1/4" of the word. I looked at him and used all of my willpower to hold back from saying "You've got to be kidding me! You pulled me over for that?!?!" I walked back to the driver's side of the truck to retrieve my driver's license for him and briefly explained to Erin what was going on.

After returning to the rear of the truck and handing the trooper my license he explained that he wasn't going to give me a ticket, just a written warning. Then, noticing that I was from The Woodlands while writing out the citation, he made the fatal mistake - he asked me where I was headed. Erin watched from the truck as my arms waved and hands gestured and I ranted about my day...

"I was just at the airport to pick up a friend only to find out that my other friend was taken from the airport to the emergency room so now I'm on my way to a hospital that I have no idea where it is at and I haven't gotten a hold of anyone at home to tell them what is going on and I'm getting married on Saturday so you pulling me over was just the icing on the cake!"
Fortunately, he just handed me the written warning, smiled and let me go on my way.

BUT... the fun was not to end there. We finally made it to the hospital and I told the emergency room receptionist that my friend was just brought there from the airport. She said, "oh yes, she's in room 12" and rattled off directions on how to find that room. After following the lefts and rights we found room 12 and I approached without hesitation. Afterall, it was Connie - I didn't care if she was sleeping, puking or naked, I just wanted to see if she was alright. I reached for the curtain and walked through only to find a nurse tending to a half-naked, fat, hairy old guy. Either that definately wasn't Connie or she had a worse flight experience than I had imagined. I apologized and quickly backed out of the room.

A different nurse directed us to room 6. I paused this time before opening the curtain and said "Connie?". We were in luck - Connie this time, just as I had remembered her, skinny and not so hairy. Relieved to see that she was o.k. I sat down and we all had a good laugh.

Oh, and as a special bonus, the doctor gave her a couple fancy puke bags before we left incase she needed them during the car ride. Those puke bags quickly became my "something blue" for the wedding.

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