When I met Heather at BYU she was
studying molecular biology, working in her own science lab on campus and
publishing a research paper. I figured
she must be smart. On our wedding day I found out the truth.
The day started without a hitch. No
sleeping in, no storms, no forgotten temple recommends, we got to the Salt Lake
Temple in plenty of time.
Because
Heather’s wedding dress was so simple, she was ready before I was. She said good-bye to Ruth and was escorted to
the waiting room where the wedding couple meets and then proceeds on to the
ceremony. As she walked in, there was a
man waiting for his bride, which was typically the case. The temple worker proceeded to talk to
Heather and this stranger explaining to them what was to happen next.
“Oh, this
isn’t whom I’m marrying. My groom hasn’t arrived yet… but I’ll marry him if you
need me to.” She never misses an
opportunity to try to be funny.
The groom
quickly interrupted, “I’m not marrying her!” and then proceeded to stand up and
move a few seats farther away.
A few
minutes later I walk in to find Heather with a grin on her face and a former
high school classmate.
“Hey,” I
say, “Long time no see. You’re getting married today too, huh? Let me introduce you to my fiancée.”
“We’ve
met,” he mutters and crosses his arms over his chest.
After the
ceremony, countless pictures, a quick trip to the grocery store, and lunch in
the park, we were finally ready for our reception.
We decided
to have a short receiving line with just our parents, best man, and maid of
honor—our 10 siblings were free to roam around and eat all the food.
The guests
came in a steady stream never once giving us a break to sit down and rest. Sometime amidst the congratulations and well
wishing, Heather’s 15-year-old brother Ryan approaches her.
“We need
your car keys,” he tells her.
“You do?”
she asks. “What for?”
“We need to
get something out of your car.”
Stop right
here. Heather, it is our wedding day, he
doesn’t need to get anything out of our car! He needs to put things in our car!
“Okay, they are right here in
Brad’s pocket.” She reaches into my pant pocket as I’m shaking hands with
someone, pulls out our car keys handing them to Ryan.
“What are
you doing?” I ask my wife of eight hours.
“Ryan needs
to get something from the Jetta.”
“He’s going
to thrash our car.”
“Do you
think so?” she asks.
Do I think so?
Have you ever been to a wedding before?
Sure enough as we got ready to
leave, we found our Jetta waiting for us full of newspapers, Oreos and
rice.
Despite the
mess, I was still glad my old high school buddy didn’t take her up on her crazy
offer.
But it all worked out in the end. Seven years later, just
two days before Ryan got married, he unsuspectingly handed his car keys to
Heather.
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