Wedding Week- Day 1

This is the first time I've really done the whole wedding week thing, but it seems like a lot of fun. Tomorrow is our second anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been that long, these past two years have gone by really fast. We've gone through the excitement of promotions at work, buying our first home, the big guy getting recognized as sales rep of the year (shameless bragging), and me starting a graduate degree.

I'll warn you now, this is a long one.

But two years ago right about now, I was sitting in a room with some of the most important people in our world (some really important people weren't able to be there in person, but we knew that they were thinking about us, and they were part of the celebration in spirit). I was getting about a million kinds of antsy and excited and nervous about what the next day would bring. It was a whirlwind kind of a day. It all started at 5am that morning, with my dad and I getting ready to hop on the commuter train from La Fox to Chicago. An odd trip for the day before a wedding, but one that was very necessary. Here's the story if you haven't already heard it. (Or in my dad's case, lived through it with me.)

Wednesday before we got married, we packed up and got ready to drive from Indianapolis to Geneva. I had everything but one important piece- my passport. I had previously given the big guy a lot of grief for not putting his passport in a safe place. Apparently mine was so safe, I couldn't find it. Massive amounts of panic ensued, and we tore our apartment apart trying to find it. No luck. Which was totally scary, because we had an international honeymoon planned. I was not going to be able to go to Aruba sans passport.

So then we found out a very helpful piece of information. There are places across the country where passports are physically made. If you make an appointment and go in person with all the right forms, you can get your passport the same day. One of these places is the Federal Building in downtown Chicago.

So back to my story. We call on the way to my parents' house and make an appointment for me to go and get another passport. But I'm not quite as familiar with Chicago as I pretend to be, and I was nervous about going alone. Enter my dad.

Here's the thing about my dad- he's the best. I know a lot of people say that, but when I say it, it's actually true. He got up crazy early on a day when he should have been able to sleep in and relax, and he hopped on a commuter train like it was no big deal. Trust me, it was a really big deal. We walked from the train station to the Federal Building, navigated the gauntlet of security, and got in line with all the forms and paperwork.

Then I get up to the window, like the DMV, but with glass separating us from the federal employees. People were shouting, people were angry, and people were not happy. The guy behind the glass turns to me, already bored at 9:00am, and we have this conversation:

Federal Employee Guy: Do you have your forms?
Me: Yes, sir. I have them here. (pushes paperwork through the hole under the glass)
Fed: I have to ask this, is it absolutely necessary that you get a new passport today? What's so important that we have to rush it?
Me: (bottom lip begins to quiver, big sniff) Well, sir, you see... (cue uncontrollable sobbing) I'm getting married tomorrow (hiccup) and I lost my passport, but I didn't know it (hiccup) and my dad came out all this way with me (hiccup) and my fiance is the best man in the whole world  (hiccup, sniff) and he's planned this great honeymoon in Aruba (hiccup) and now I can't go with him (hiccup) and it's almost my wedding day ... I may have said more, but there were no dogs around to translate the high-pitched ball of emotions I had become.

At this point he reaches his hand under the glass, pats my hand, and says "Honey, you're passport will be done by noon."

Well at this point, I feel like this man has single-handedly saved my honeymoon. And if you think about it, he kinda did.

So I go back over to where my dad is waiting, and tell him the good news. He looks at his watch and says "It's only 9:15. What do you think about some breakfast and a walk around the city?"

That's what we did. We went to the Marriott on the river and had breakfast. We walked through Millennium Park and went through the exhibit hall of a technology conference. We walked, we talked, and I had the best unplanned morning a girl could have the day before her wedding. I didn't get a lot of time just me and Dad leading up to the wedding. Napkin colors and centerpieces just aren't his thing. This random morning was exactly what I needed. Unplanned though it was, I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

For the record- never found the original passport. Totally lost. I think our apartment ate it.