Our honeymoon was so brief, it’s pretty much a blur.
The background story is thus: We wanted to get married in Zelienople. I had worked my training so that as I moved from Ellsworth AFB to Griffiss AFB, in Rome NY, I could go to upgrade training enroute, showing up at my new base in May as a fully qualified B-52 Radar Bombardier. When it all sorted out and I knew my schedule, I called ahead to my unit, in December or early January, and talked to my new Commander, asking for a couple weeks of leave in July to have the wedding and go on a honeymoon. His response was, “We’ll talk about it when you get here.”
So I showed up in May, went to my Commander and reminded him I was getting married over the 4th of July weekend. He said, a day or so ahead for the wedding was fine, but a week for a honeymoon? No can do. I had to be back on the Wednesday after the wedding.
That really threw me under the bus. Not the way to impress your Bride-to-be because the plans had been in the works, probably since Christmas, and more likely since the previous summer, when Laura had moved to the Pentagon.
Besides being pissed, the task then became: “Where can we go for a honeymoon in just three days?” We settled on Myrtle Beach.
So I showed up in May, went to my Commander and reminded him I was getting married over the 4th of July weekend. He said, a day or so ahead for the wedding was fine, but a week for a honeymoon? No can do. I had to be back on the Wednesday after the wedding.
That really threw me under the bus. Not the way to impress your Bride-to-be because the plans had been in the works, probably since Christmas, and more likely since the previous summer, when Laura had moved to the Pentagon.
Besides being pissed, the task then became: “Where can we go for a honeymoon in just three days?” We settled on Myrtle Beach.
Pretty sure we left Sunday afternoon, flew out of Pittsburgh, rented a car once we landed, and stayed at a hotel right on the beach.
Myrtle Beach in July. It was HOT! Very hot. Laura was very smart and limited our beach time to a couple hours in the morning, and then doing some sightseeing in the afternoon, followed by dinner somewhere in Myrtle Beach in the evenings.
Very quick, but we had fun.
Very quick, but we had fun.
When I got back, Laura helped me move into my townhouse and set up living conditions, then headed back to Washington DC to live for the next year until we could get her assigned to Griffiss (Thankfully, we did!)
Come late August sometime, my Commander came over to me one day and said, “I guess we kind of screwed you over on your honeymoon back in July (there was absolutely NO reason I had to be back so quick), would you like some time off in September to go on a real honeymoon? All well and good, but Laura had used up all her leave for the shower, the wedding and helping me set up house, she didn’t have any time off left. I think I took leave and drove down and spent time at her place in Alexandria, while she worked.
Because Kara came along right as Laura showed up in NY, our real “honeymoon,” happened 25 years later when we took a week long bus trip through Ireland before meeting up with Jill at the University of Limerick.
Come late August sometime, my Commander came over to me one day and said, “I guess we kind of screwed you over on your honeymoon back in July (there was absolutely NO reason I had to be back so quick), would you like some time off in September to go on a real honeymoon? All well and good, but Laura had used up all her leave for the shower, the wedding and helping me set up house, she didn’t have any time off left. I think I took leave and drove down and spent time at her place in Alexandria, while she worked.
Because Kara came along right as Laura showed up in NY, our real “honeymoon,” happened 25 years later when we took a week long bus trip through Ireland before meeting up with Jill at the University of Limerick.
No comments:
Post a Comment