Tropical Wedding

When my son and daughter-in-law got married they chose a tropical destination wedding, which sounded wonderful in a cold, rainy fall.  Because of work schedules they chose the long week-end of Thanksgiving. giving everyone a five day period to spend in paradise.  We all made plans, bought  resort clothes, scheduled flights and with excitement dreamed of sunny skies and warm sand beaches.  The time approached and we all headed for the airports with visions of fancy drinks and little umbrellas in our minds. 


Unfortunately, or more likely, inevitably, fate intervened.


We arrived at the airport to be informed that our flight was delayed due to weather.  "What!!" we inquired, "It's beautiful outside!  What weather??"  "Oh, so sorry." we were told, "The weather isn't here.  Your plane is stuck in Atlanta because of a tornado that has closed the airport."   "Oh, but you don't understand."  I implored, " Our son is getting married this week-end in Mexico and we have to get there for the wedding."  She smiled in sympathy, then told us to take a seat and just wait it out.


Some time later, we heard our names called over the intercom.  On approaching the desk, the sympathetic attendant asked us if we had all our carry ons with us. Slightly confused, we answered. yes.  "OK." she replied, "Don't look at anyone and don't say anything, just walk past me and through the door and get on the plane."  "But", I sputtered.  "No!" she reiterated, "Don't say anything!  This plane is going to Atlanta.  There are two seats available but nothing for the rest of this group.  Just get on and get to Atlanta.  I'll get the rest of this group on the next flight out.  Now GO!!" 


We walked past the desk with a song of praises in our hearts for a kind gate attendant who worked a small miracle.


Little did we know that the same story with variations was being carried on across the United States.  Our daughter and her husband were leaving out of Kansas City only to be faced with a severe ice storm that caused multiple flight delays.  In Salt Lake City, the mother and father of the bride had no trouble making their flight to Chicago, only to discover that their connecting flight was grounded due to a snow storm.  The bride and groom hopped on their flight from Oklahoma City with no problems and arrived on schedule.


We were trying to rescheduled flights to Mexico when we heard from our daughter.  They had arrived in Chicago for their connecting flight to discover they were now on the same flight as the parents of the bride.  They were all now trying to get a flight to Mexico. 


We finally arrived, severally jet lagged, in Mexico to discover that we had a three hour ride to the resort.  What seemed like a year later we arrived at our resort to be greeted by the bride and groom and no luggage.  At that point we didn't care.  "It will come." we assured each other.  With a few hugs and greetings (the bride and groom had arrived earlier and enjoyed a few cocktails, some time on the beach, and a relaxing dinner) we discovered the other members of the party were due to arrive some time in the night. 


At sometime around 1 am we were wandering around the lobby when the airport shuttle arrived with our daughter and husband, and no luggage.  All the wedding finery. bought so carefully, was still floating around airports around the country.


After checking carefully, we discovered if our luggage didn't arrive within 24 hours we had  $200 to spend for new wedding clothes. 


The next morning we enjoyed a Thanksgiving brunch complete with bloody Mary's and waited for our luggage. (Strange to have Thanksgiving in a pair of shorts and t-shirt purchased from the gift shop)  That afternoon the 24 hour mark approached and my daughter and I prepared to go into the nearest town to find wedding finery.  We were standing in the lobby waiting for our taxi to arrive, when my daughter noticed a van unloading luggage in the drive.  "Boy!" she exclaimed, "That looks just like your ugly green luggage!"  "No way!"  I responded, eyeing the approaching transportation to our shopping spree.  "I'm afraid it is". she replied gently, as she pulled me away from the car.  "Our luggage just arrived!" 


Our shopping spree got postponed.  Darn!


The good news is, the sun shone, the wedding was beautiful, and the bride was lovely. (The groom didn't look bad!)


I'll always have lovely memories of that crazy week-end complete with a beautiful wedding, Champagne, and sunny beaches.