It was beautiful. It was scary. It was one hell of a roller coaster ride. Think “The Hangover” meets “Twister” meets “Contagion.” That was the weekend leading up to my daughter’s wedding. COVID tornado wedding. Three words you would never expect to see in a sentence together.
So let’s see. Where to begin. Well, there’s the whole COVID thing. To wed or wait.
Alexa and Phil were not waiting.
Invitations went out to 200 people for an outdoor garden wedding. 50 non risk averse people said, “Heck yeah.”
They donned masks, got on planes and trains and drove to Wilmington, Delaware for a wedding on the gorgeous grounds of Winterthur.
Friday, just as the wedding rehearsal ends, there’s a sprinkle of rain and then
BOOOMMMM!
A lightning strike so close we all jumped and ran for shelter. An F1 tornado touched down.
Torrential rains ensued. Members of the wedding party got lost and soaked and had to be rescued.
It rained so hard we huddled in the visitor center. Dinner plans? Cancelled.
We watched flood waters rise. Trees came down everywhere.
When we finally were able to drive, we couldn’t get anywhere. Power lines were down. Trees and flood waters blocked roads. We drove in circles unable to get back to the hotel. The groom’s “Hangover” (they weren’t hungover but they were a great cast of guy friends) gang of friends scouted different routes, even waded through water to find safe passage.
Finally, a double rainbow appeared in the sky and emergency personnel led us to passable roads.
Later, the wedding party witnessed a pedestrian and dog get hit by a driver. Not fatal but like, seriously…what else could happen? They comforted the driver and helped look for the runaway dog.
Whew!
Next morning, SUNSHINE. BUT, power outages at Winterthur. For a couple hours, we weren’t sure if the wedding could happen as planned.
But I must say, the bride and groom were rolling with the punches. Cool and collected. Problem solving…they just kept going.
Livestream plans? Zoom plans? That all went to hell, but the wedding?
No challenge or act of God could stop it.
It was joyous with masks and social distancing and all.
The story I just told? It won’t be in the wedding video. But I can tell you, the adventure made us all the more grateful we were present. My husband walked our daughter down the aisle and we witnessed these two, tell each other how much they love each other.
You can’t stop love.
We dared. We danced. We celebrated.
I’m totally feeling like belting out a little Diana Ross. Sing it with me:
Ain’t no mountain high enough
Ain’t no valley low enough
Ain’t no river wild enough
To keep me from you.
To my beautiful daughter Alexa and son in law Phil, (Mr. and Mrs. Jadd), may the force be with you now and always.
May you always have daring journeys and a love that sustains you through all life’s adventures.
