Dec 2003
July 2003
Eight years ago, Randy and I got married in Hawaii. Not many people (besides family and close friends), know the story behind how we came to be. So here it is... (and if you've ever questioned 'fate' this will make you a believer)
When I first arrived in Hawaii I got put in transit/temporary billets that were so old and run down. Everyone first arriving there under the rank of SGT had to stay there in these 4/5 man rooms while they went through a series of introductory classes for 2 weeks. I cannot tell you how absolutely depressed these buildings made me. I was in Hawaii, it was supposed to be awesome. Instead I was so sad and homesick and of course being a PV2 I was getting yelled at all the time for nothing, (to top it off the airline had lost a good bit of my luggage which was mostly uniform stuff:/ ). I'm sure mom can remember me calling and crying to her during the first few days because I was so miserable, and she probably thought I was out of my mind. She knew personally that Hawaii was awesome.
I guess I should explain that this 'class', this group of newbies, was all different MOS's (job specialties). So even though I was an MP I was going through the class with infantry guys, and medics and everyone else. On the third or fourth day of class we took a tour of a museum somewhere in Honolulu. It was so darn hot and we were all not used to that heat. I can remember everyone packing into this little cafe there to get something to drink. That's where I met Randy. We were all crammed in there talking about where we came from (our hometowns), and Randy said Cincinnati (which everyone back home knows is easier to start with than explaining were from the very tip of KY right across the river from Cincy). I overheard him and said 'no way, I'm from NKY!"
From there we just started to go back and forth till we figured out he lived in Elsmere (so did I), that he went to Dixie (my school's rival school), and that our parents worked at the same hospital! Ha! Small world indeed. OR-- fate :)
We became great friends, hanging out all time. I can even remember a time that Randy wanted to hang out and I said I couldn't because I had to go get some stuff for my new barracks room (I remember specifically a pillow), and he just ended up joining me. Haha, I can actually remember back to over 8 years ago, walking around inside the furniture store with him shopping for a pillow and bedset. :)
Well to get on with the story....
On October 16, 2003 I got off of work for the day and drove down to his motorpool to pick him up. While I sat there I picked up the phonebook (not sure why I had a phonebook in the car) and picked a random pastor/minister to call. I called and scheduled us to be married later that evening on the beach down in Waikiki. Randy got in the car, I told him we getting married today :) and we went to the px where he got a nice shirt and tie and then back to my barracks where I knocked on some doors until I found someone that had a white sundress. We quickly got dressed and headed down to Waikiki. We barely made it because of CRAZY Hawaiian rush hour traffic.
And there ya go. Randy and I stood on the sand on a beach in Waikiki, our backs to the water, and said our vows. It was great. I will never forget anything about and I can close my eyes and still picture everythign. Unfortunetly, because of the spontinaity we had no one else there and have no pictures :(
Here are some pictures from our first year of marriage :)
Randy was about to deploy, so I handcuffed so he couldn't go, (it didn't work)
This was our first Christmas together, we were in Hawaii can you tell? haha
This is the first goodbye we had to go through...
