Over 20 years ago, two friends talked about how great it would be if the eldest daughter of one family were to grow up to marry the eldest son of the other family. They made many frivolous plans, as mothers do, not imagining that one day that plan would come to fruition. On November 8, 2008, in a little Connecticut church, Phillip and Angel fulfilled the innocuous plans made by their mothers all those years ago.

These two that have known each other all their lives, joined their lives in marriage. I was blessed to be there as a guest and help document the events of the weekend for the groom’s family.

This is what fall trees look like in Connecticut. Amazing:

And the story I promised:
I woke up drooling on his shoulder. Okay, I wasn’t drooling, but on a flight sitting in close proximity with strangers, waking up snuggling with them is just a little mortifying. Not to mention he was really good looking and very nice… but that’s not the worst part.

As we prepared to land, the plane lurches, sending flight attendants tumbling and scurrying to the safety of their seat belts. A shaky voice comes over the intercom, describing the “unexpected turbulence,” and asks us all to use the honor code and make sure everyone’s seats are in their full upright and locked position. I don’t do turbulence. In fact, I barely do flights at all. And as the bumps start coming, I grip the armrests in a panic and dig my nails in(as if clamping my ten long fingers in the metal bars that separate the seats and shutting my eyes real tight will help in any emergency situation). Except one armrest is soft and not quite an armrest but an arm, yes, the arm of my new friend. He kindly removes the talons attached to the very sweatshirt I had been using as a pillow and holds my now clenched fist in a reassuring grasp. He pats my hand and consoles me with words I don’t hear because it’s all I can do to not throw up, hyperventilate and cry. After the longest 6 minutes of my life…well, obviously I lived long enough to blog about it.

So, Dave, if you’re reading this, thank you for being so sweet and letting me drool on your shoulder. Sorry if I left scars on your hand :). Good luck with your deployment and be safe. I owe you a lesson in Chinese!

Wait till I tell the story about the flight there, where we had to redistribute the weight because the plane was so small…another blog post maybe. Let’s just say it was quite a trip.