d for 6 years now. 3 of those we were dating, 3 of those we were married, and tomorrow is our anniversary.So, in the spirit of celebrating our anniversary, I thought I'd regale you with a Greg story that happened 3 years and 1 day ago today. . . or, perhaps to clarify, 2 days before the wedding.
We were married in a small mountain town called Ouray, on the Western side of the Rockies here in Colorado. I grew up over there, and as we both loved it we decided to make the 5 hour trek and meet all our friends and family for the Grand Celebration. It was a medium-sized wedding, about 100 people showed up for it, and in the couple days before we were to be married, we hung out with everyone, going to some hotsprings, visiting camp and cabin sites, shopping, eating, touring old mines, and. . . Most important to this story, taking a 4-wheel drive trip.
My dad, Greg and I all knew the route well, I've been doing it since I was 2. It winds up and over a mountain pass, and then drops you off in Telluride so you can then take a regular road back to Ridgeway and finally, back to Ouray - where we started. The ride was great, we all took pictures, checked out old mines and ghost towns, took more pictures, and then headed down the backside of the mountain into Telluride. Brad, Greg's best friend was riding in the backseat, and the three of us were in the middle of a conversation almost into Telluride when there was a horrendous THUMP from the hood of Greg's Explorer followed by an earpiercing shriek of metal on metal for 10 long seconds before the sound finally died with the engine. There was brief silence followed by a torrent of cursing from Greg.
Apparently this had been a problem that Greg was going to fix, but didn't think needed immediate attention like apparently it had. And so our getaway/honeymoon/driving car was completely disabled. . . on the side of a mountain. . . .5 hours away from where we lived. . . .2 hours from our wedding site. . . a day and a half before the wedding.
Greg and Brad (they both are mechanics, Greg just doesn't do it as a profession anymore) hopped out and immediately went about trying to figure out a way to fix the problem. Something about how a ball bearing welded itself onto the engine. . . Not really fixable for running the motor, but we could coast and be towed alright. And that's what we did. We coasted into Telluride, and my dad towed us over the pass and then let us go once we were to the top. It's just miles and miles of downhill, and I joined Greg for a 30 minute equivalent of 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride' as we careened into Ridgeway with no power steering or brakes.
The Explorer's prognosis was no good. It would take at least a week to fix. Which was too bad since we were going to be on our honeymoon in now, 1 day. My mom called a friend back in Denver who hadn't yet arrived for the wedding and begged him and his dad to bring her car over so we could use it. They said ok, but that they'd be a little late. The wedding preparations were done, we had one more fun evening with our friends and prepared to get married the next day.
As I prepared throughout the day with hair, makeup, dressing, flowers, and whatnot, I was wondering where our car was. Hours ticked by and still it didn't show up. Greg was wondering as well and sweating it out. What were we going to do tomorrow if it didn't show? We didn't want to spend half the day with our parents trying to find a car rental in some other town!
The day passed by quickly and soon I went to the church for pictures and then hid upstairs as Greg showed up for his pictures . . .And still no car. I sent my bridesmaids out on car-watching duty periodically to see if it had showed yet, and nope - no car. As I was walking down the aisle, through the open door I saw my mom's car screech around the corner and do a 4 wheel skid into the parking lot. . .And I smiled.
I arrived at the end of the aisle, and after being given away by my father, walked up the stairs towards the altar with my soon-to-be-husband, and looked up at him and winked.
"The car's here" I whispered, and we both smiled as we took our vows.
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