The roller coaster of life...

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Time to catch everyone up to date....

Quick flashback to the Sunday after Melissa's wedding...we met up with four friends for lunch at Cracker Barrel. Earl & Pauline and Kathi & Duane, who were to be married on Saturday. They also are the couple going to Cabo with us...their honeymoon. They were to be our witnesses for our wedding in Cabo. After lunch, at which Melissa & Mike had joined us briefly, the 6 of us headed to a local outlet mall in search of some Docker style pants for Duane to take to Cabo.

While wandering the stores and chatting, we had a little more discussion about the problems we were running into in trying to arrange our Cabo wedding. The legalities were a breeze, it was the cost that was staggering. All the packages were geared to small weddings with 15-25 people and were way more than what we wanted. We had pretty much resigned ourselves to a civil ceremony when we came back to MD. Next thing we know, we're invited to have our wedding along with Kathi & Duane....the only thing they needed to do was check with the minister.

After assuring ourselves that this was truly what they both wanted, we were ecstatic. Not only would we be getting married with friends present, we could have a few family members as well. Everyone was sworn to secrecy and we headed home, very excited about our upcoming wedding day! After the initial disaster of the dress I had ordered not arriving, followed by the excitement of finding the perfect rings, topped by the wedding not being in Cabo..we were feeling pretty good.

On Monday, Melissa and her new husband, Mike, headed to Ocean City for a short honeymoon and we headed over to house & pet sit for them. By mid-week it was apparent I had picked up a cold..as had the brother of the groom. Gotta love these germs...LOL!



On Thursday we heard from Melissa that Mike had been to the ER the night before and they were headed home. We waited till they arrived and headed back to our home (sub2 home, that is). I was feeling no better so rested a bit before dinner out with friends that night. We shared our upcoming wedding date surprise and showed off our new rings.



On Friday we prepared to head to Lorton, VA where we would spend Fri & Sat nights at the Comfort Inn, just around the corner from the Legion Hall where the wedding would be held. First thing we discovered was that the directions that were printed on the invitation, were incorrect. We texted corrections to the few family members we had arriving and called Duane to start notifying any friends/family on his side. LOL! After checking into the hotel we headed downtown with Duane to get our license (no waiting period, no residency requirement and no blood tests needed...NICE!).

During lunch we got our next surprise....our friend Earl had lost the brakes in his motorhome as he was driving down to VA for the wedding. Fortunately he had another couple with him and a little over the phone troubleshooting was done between Stu, Duane, Earl & Jerry. They decided it sounded like the master cylinder had gone bad. We headed out to find a replacement before dropping Duane at home (he had to go to work). Since I still felt really bad, Stu dropped me at the hotel before heading off to find Earl & Jerry and hopefully getting the brake issue resolved.

Well, before that happened we had double bad news....Melissa had taken Mike to the ER locally and they were admitting him to the hospital. We knew all we could do was pray for some recovery for him...his battle is a long one. Then we heard from his other daughter, Heather, and her boyfriend's ex's family had an unexpected death. They were watching three kids other than their own two...we assured them kids were okay and hoped they could all make it. Sigh...

Stu finally arrived back at the hotel.....with a black eye. Oh yeah...a real shiner....one of the hazards of mechanic's work...and no, the brakes weren't fixed. The master cylinder was the wrong one. Earl ended up calling his road service and having the RV towed to a dealership in Manassas, VA. What a day!!! We did get to have dinner with my youngest daughter, her husband and three grandbabies.

Saturday we slept in, taking our time getting ready for the day. Stu ran out to pick up a few things and also informed me that he ran into my son & his wife in the lobby along with several of his friends who were checking into their rooms. Getting harder and harder to keep the surprise...but we kept working on it.

Because the wedding planning was for Kathi & Duane's wedding, we kept our part understated. Hawaiian shirts and khaki pants with silk leis for us and those in our wedding party (Stu's oldest daughter stood for him and my youngest stood for me, my two granddaughters gave me away). Their wedding was more formal although not traditional since it was not a first wedding for them either. I love the contrast of the two in this wedding shot!



The wedding wasn't as big a surprise as planned since someone as the hotel desk mentioned a double wedding, but it was big enough for us. LOL! Everything went wonderfully, including Duane's sister picking us up a little bride-groom and a garter for me. Kathi had already arranged for my daisies - my flower of choice.

We got hugs, kisses; we danced, laughed; we ate, drank; we shared cake, memories. Then we topped it all off with the most wonderful marshmallow fight! Yup, you read that right...we had run into this in Cancun at Senor' Frog's and loved it. I am SO not a food fight person but this is pretty much a no muss-no fuss event. The kids started handing out the Zip-lock bags filled with pink & white marshmallows. All the formal things were over, the crowd was mellow and all it took was one toss.... Next thing we know the room in fully involved...even the three guys from the caterers joined in. For 5 minutes a soft, sweet chaos ruled....it was amazing. Unfortunately there are no photos since we were all too busy having fun! When the song changed, Stu got everyone to stop and pick it all up. Perfect!! [more photos at SmugMug]



So, three weddings in two weeks and on Wednesday we leave for a week in Cabo for a double honeymoon. We're all looking forward to it...and I'm really glad that I'm starting to feel more like me (spent most of this past week sleeping & taking meds). Needless to say, no blogging or real Internet access until we get back on April 29th (actually the 30th since our flight arrives after 11pm on the 29th).

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu

22 comments:

  1. Congratulations! Wow, you guys have some stamina! I am exhausted just reading about it.

    Thanks again for sharing your adventure.

    Mike

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  2. I am so very happy for you, Donna and Stu! I hope that you have many happy years together! Have a great trip!

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  3. Congratulations to you both! How wonderful to have friends that would share their wedding day with you like that. It sounds like a fabulous after-party. Enjoy Cabo!

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  4. Congratulations Donna and Stu,may you have many RVing years ahead of you.I'm glad everything turned out well and that you're feeling better, Donna. Have a great honeymoon!

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  5. I'm so very happy for you two! What a great time. The marshmallow fight sounds like great fun! Thanks for the post.

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  6. Hi Donna and Stu.
    Congratulations.
    It is great that you found each other.
    Happy Trails, Penny, TX

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  7. Donna and Stu, our best wishes to you both! May you have many years of happiness with one another. Have a wonderful trip to Cabo.

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  8. Congratulations! The Wedding photos look great!

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  9. Donna and Stu,
    Congratulations. Have a wonderful time in Cabo. Hope to see you down the road sometime.
    Dan and Gail

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  10. Congratulations! May you be blessed with many happy years ahead!

    Jan and GC

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  11. Ahh Donna . . . you looked lovely. I'm so truly happy for you, even though Stu has now broken my heart forever : )

    Hope that cold went away before your trip!

    Slicks sends his best too.

    - wendyvee

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  12. My heartiest congratulations to you both. With best wishes for fair weather and smooth sailing in the years ahead.

    Have fun in Cabo!

    Donna, FL

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  13. Congratulations! What a wonderful story!

    May you have many, many very, very happy years together.

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  14. CONGRATULATIONS DONNA & STU!!! We are so happy for you. We know you have a lot of happy years ahead of you. Hope to see you down the road. If you make it close to Custer this summer, look us up.

    Have a great time in Cabo!!

    Hugs.........Pat and Mike

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  15. Donna & Stu,

    Congrats with your new life. Hope to see you "on the road".

    Paul n Connie

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  16. It's nice to finally get a full report of the wedding. You both look so happy together & we wish you both many years of happiness!!
    Sorry I had to do this as "anonymous", but you know me as Tater ;-)

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  17. YAY!! What great memories. Enjoy each minute and laugh, laugh, laugh!

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  18. Congrats.....It looked lovely.
    Love to you both. Enjoy the honeymoon.
    Russ and Stuart

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  19. Congratulations. Have a wonderful honeymoon.
    Love to you both.
    Russ and Stuart

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  20. Donna & Stu,

    Congrats!!! I wish you two many happy miles ahead.

    Looking forward to meeting you folks someday.

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  21. Congratulations Stu and Donna. I wish you many years and miles of happiness.

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  22. From Don & Phyllis Mueller about Muriel. Thank you for keeping us informed. We will send a get well card to you @ your South Dakota address and then we will send a Birthday card. We will be in Kissammee, FL for a week and planned to visit Muriel (20-25th) sometime during that week. We will wait to find out from you before we let Muriel know. So please keep in contact. You didn't give us your e-mail; so I'll contact you by snail mail. Thanks, PHYLLIS
    This is for Stuart & Donna McNicol

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