A Wedding

Back in August, a very special friend asked if we could arrange to come to the states for her wedding 0n March 8 and, if we could, would Marc be able to read the scripture. Alice has been a close friend to all three of our kids and to Marc and I as well. Living in Honduras means we can't make all the weddings and funerals and events we were once able to attend. After some consideration, we said yes. As the time came to buy our tickets, we knew this had to be a quick trip, a very quick trip.

We left Honduras on March 7 and flew into Little Rock. We leave our car at Nathan's house and always fly into and out of Little Rock. Before Matt and Nicole left for Honduras, they drove our car to Little Rock and left at our niece's apartment.

We have been busy, but as the time got closer to leave, I was filled with eager anticipation. Seeing all our kids and sweet Camille. Being in Columbus. Seeing the beautiful southern spring. I checked the weather forecast early in the week. Saturday, the day of the wedding was suppose to be high of 45 degrees. That didn't sound like the beautiful southern spring I was anticipating. In spite of that, I still decided to take a spring dress and shoes instead of winter dress and shoes.

We got to Houston and, because of weather, were an hour late leaving for Little Rock. It was in Houston that we heard Memphis was expecting 7 to 8 inches of snow. That is impossible in March that far south. The longer we sat in Houston, the worse the forecast became. We weren't sure we could drive from Little Rock to Columbus. I was already exhausted and began to cry. I just could not believe we were coming that far in that short of time for a wedding we might not even get to attend. Because of the bad weather, Nathan and Julia left for Columbus on Friday and got there safely.

Matt and Nicole rode a bus from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula to catch a 2:00 a.m. flight to Ft. Lauderdale and then on to Atlanta. They were to arrive in Atlanta in plenty of time to drive to Columbus and get there before the wedding.

On Saturday morning we left Little Rock at 7:00 a.m. for, under normal conditions, a 5 hour drive to Columbus. I-40 from Little Rock had basically been cleared of snow and ice and we were driving along for about 40 miles when traffic slowed considerably, almost to a complete stop. We had no idea why, but guessed an accident. We crept along the rest of the way to Memphis. The interstate was littered with overturned big rigs. The interstate probably should have been closed until some of those accidents were cleared. Not long after we got into the slow traffic, Nicole called and said they were detained in Ft. Lauderdale because of weather in other parts of the country. Nathan kept calling from Columbus to see where we were. Not much further than when we last talked to him. Camille got on the phone and said " I go wedding. I see you at wedding. Does Pop go wedding?", making the desire to get there even greater.

It took us five hours to get to Memphis, which is usually an easy two hours. I was frequently talking to Debbie, my friend and Alice's mom. Plan B was made.

Once we got to Memphis, and roads and traffic, were all clear, we were driving fast, and I do mean fast. The last time we drove that fast was December 31, 2004 when Miss Camille decided to make her appearance into this world. And we made it there for that special event. If Marc had been stopped, it probably would have been jail, not just a ticket. I will say this, Marc's expert Honduran driving paid off in more than one instance. Some things were funny and some were not so funny. I changed my clothes in the car. Interesting to say the least. After we got through Tupelo, Marc changed his clothes in the car. Yes, while driving. He said he use to do it all the time when he was traveling for business. That was interesting as well. He even tied his tie. I was impressed. We knew we were not going to be there at the start of the wedding. But if we got there, before the reading of the scripture, Marc was still going to read. I had everything marked in his Bible. The wedding lasted 20 minutes and as we screeched to a halt in front of the chapel, Alice and Jeff were walking out of the chapel. We missed the whole wedding. We did get to go to the reception, though.

Poor Matt and Nicole drove up as the reception ended.

Definitely a disappointing day. But we got to see Alice and Jeff. We spent time both yesterday and today with our kids. We have had Camille with us the last two nights. We saw a lot of friends in church this morning.

Our kids all went back to Searcy today and we will head that way tomorrow after taking care of a bit of business in Columbus in the morning. We will be back in Honduras on Tuesday and get back to work immediately.

Here's wishing Alice and Jeff a lifetime of happiness.

Terri