8 years

When Rob and I decided to get married, we had a lot of things going against us: We were wayyy too young (I was 21, he was 20), he was still in the Army, and I was getting ready to get out of college to do... something. Nonetheless, we were in love, and our parents just went along for the ride. We planned a wedding for June 9, 2001. I bought a dress, we booked a gorgeous ceremony/reception site in the hills overlooking Austin, and we struggled to figure out how far our meager honeymoon budget would get us. In early January 2001, Robert received orders to deploy to South Korea for a year. He was set to leave in May, one month before our wedding. We tried in vain to find a way to move the wedding, but family restrictions and Rob's hard to predict Army schedule made it seem impossible. We talked a bit about eloping since I was never the little girl that dreams about being a bride. My biggest fear, ironically, was disappointing my mom by not having the wedding. My mom is amazing though, and one day when I was complaining about the rescheduling problems, she asked why we didn't just go to the courthouse. Well, that was all the fuel I needed. I called Rob at work and had this conversation:

Me: So, are you going to be on guard duty this weekend?

Rob: No

Me: Are you absolutely, positively sure?

Rob: Yes, why, what's going on?

Me: Do you want to get married on Saturday?

We went to the courthouse for our marriage license on Friday, and had to stick around to get a judge's permission to waive the normal 48 hour waiting period. I remember Rob being terrified while sitting in the courtroom waiting for our turn. He said he felt as though he'd done something wrong just by being there. Luckily for us, the judge was very nice and immediately approved our waiver and wished us luck. 

I called my mom and my best friend, Angelica, and let them in on the plan. Somehow in all the craziness, I forgot to call Nathan (he will never let me forget this). My mom got the news to him before I did. This led Nathan to the awkward situation of calling his boss to tell him "I need tomorrow off for my sister's wedding, and no, I did not know about this until now". In the end my parents and my brother drove up from Houston to attend the ceremony. Angelica took me shopping that morning and bought me a wedding present of a more courthouse appropriate dress - a simple blue sheath. 

We met at the courthouse. Rob had brought me flowers to carry. The Justice of the Peace that married us took us aside beforehand and asked if there was anything particular we wanted him to say. Rob and I were both focused on being married when it was over and weren't too concerned with how we got there. I guess I had also assumed that a civil ceremony would be almost business-like instead of romantic. Maybe it is sometimes, but we got very lucky in the Justice of the Peace that married us. He said many sweet things about marriage, but the one that always sticks in my mind is: "Now your hand will never be cold because your spouse will be there to hold it". Seriously, I'm tearing up here again just thinking about it. I am a world class sap. 

My parents booked a room for us at the Driskill Hotel, which is still the most beautiful hotel I've stayed in. It was only a one night honeymoon because I had to work the next day. The trouble with last minute plans is convincing other people they're important.

Since that day we made it through a year and a half deployment to South Korea, during which we saw each other only twice. We moved to California and Rob put up with me going to law school (which I actually think was harder than Korea in some ways). We moved back to Texas, and eventually made our way back to Austin. It has been tough on several occasions, and there are definitely times when we barely like each other. We still have a lot of fun, though, so here's hoping I'm still putting up with this crazy fool in another eight years.