One of my favorite romantic comedy movies, “Just Married” with Ashton Kutcher and Brittney Murphy, depicted of what I pictured my honeymoon being like. I loved the movie so much I probably watched it at least 5 times and even bought the DVD! I think I liked it so much, because that’s pretty much the story of my life…and now my life with my husband. On every trip, we have what we call “Dill moments” – whether it’s wacky, lucky, comical, spontaneous, or just simply an “imagine that” moment. That’s anything from getting free tickets, finding $630 in cash, to leaving the keys in our door (on the outside -twice) at our apartment in Memphis!
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Day 1
The day we leave for our belated honeymoon, didn’t quite start off on the exciting route (imagine that)…hubby gets a bill back from Memphis and spends about an hour taking care of the dispute! As a wife, I try to be as positive and encouraging as possible, telling him let’s not let this rob our joy. And, off we go…
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Traveling…is not always exciting especially when you have the case of bad luck. We had a smooth ride on the train to the airport. In fact, it was much easier than we thought and only took 30 minutes to get to the airport. Once we arrived, we had about 2.5 hours. Therefore, we felt much relaxed and glad we were super early so we can sit down and have a little dinner before I nearly passed out! The airport started out with much laughter on my end. I laughed so hard I think I pulled some abdominal muscles!! Let me lay it out…literally.
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For safety and security reasons, I packed my carry on into my suitcase so I didn’t have to fiddle with it on my shoulders while on the train with 3 suitcases. Needless to say, I rummage through my BIG suitcase while in line to check in with people in front and behind. I literally flew the top open to get my things and kept hearing hubby impatiently telling me to hurry up, get moving, and asked, “why are you doing this now?!” Of course, I scurried getting a little anxious because the line was moving. Then he says, “oh my gosh, oh my gosh…I can’t believe this.” Then I responded, “what is the problem, why are we in a hurry?” Then he leans over and whispers, “seriously, you just exposed EVERYTHING (he’s referring to lingerie, and “stuff”)!” Confused but saw the total embarrassment on my husband’s face, I then realized what just happened and broke down in laughter (for at least 5 minutes!). Then I continue and said, “What? We’re not going to see anyone again, what’s the BIG hairy, deal?!” Well, the people were right there and heard and saw everything. I’m still laughing throughout the airport…what the heck, we’re on our honeymoon…I could care less!!
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After all that…it went downhill. But, luckily, it was all minor and I’m appreciative of the fact that we made it safely and thank God that He took care of us :-) Plus, I sat next to a 25 year-old who wore hearing aids and we had so much in common…we chatted half the trip out west!
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The pitfalls or should I say, “unplanned” chain of events:
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- Plane delayed 2 hrs to Denver to meet our connecting flight, but would miss the flight had they not put us on a different flight to Kansas City. Then I asked Andrew to have them check to see if our luggage gets transferred too, but he being a guy with frustration, said, “Tiff…it will get there, they know we’re switching flights.” I wasn’t convinced.
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- Arrive to LAX and people warned us it was dirty (well, LA in general is) but we didn’t care…we’re just getting off to get our luggage, right?
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- Waiting for our luggage at midnight (LA time and 2a our time). Get one luggage out of 3! I looked at Andrew and said basically nothing. He yells at the luggage lady all while I’m trying to tell him it’s not her fault. They said our luggage will arrive in 2 hours.
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- Andrew calmed down and we waited…in the um…well, dirty place. At the time, too tired to even care. I had sanitizer anyhow.
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- Flight arrives with our luggage…not on the belt. I’m convinced it’s somewhere and peeked in the holding room where they put unclaimed luggage. “EXCUSE me?!!! “ I firmly said, “those 2 are mine…how long have they been in there?!” The lady had no response!!!
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- Just glad to get on the move and check out our convertible. Waited in line for a long while and went to get our car (here, you get the rental agreement and they assign you the car, then you go play “where’s waldo” with the cars by hunting down the space # and license!). It was fun but challenging when you’re in a lot of over hundreds of cars!!
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- Pull up to the gate and found out we have the wrong one!! Go back to find the correct license plate # and it was terribly smokey! Andrew said we need to get a new one! Seriously!
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- Waited an hour just to check out a new one and it was good enough.
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- By 3a (LA time/5a our time), we rolled up to our airport hotel and Andrew wanted to stay somewhere else…it didn’t look safe to him (well, I told him to check out the travel plans before I booked them – I planned the LA trip, he planned Tahiti). I reminded him, we’re only sleeping for a few hours then we’re gone, even though I was worried about cleanness and fire hazards (from a public health standpoint), had an open outlet literally touching our mattress!! But again, too tired to even care!
Andrew's surprise...London West Hollywood (Gordon Ramsay's restaurant). Totally worth the experience and dollars spent! This was our night to splurge (which we planned for one night in LA and one night in Tahiti).
So FRESH!!!! Gordon Ramsay picks out his own ingredients at the markets!!
And, they surprised us!!!
It's been a long journey between June 2008-June 2010. God has definitely been a major part of every step. In the beginning before we got married, we talked about me keeping my new, well-paid job in Louisville while he completes 2 years of residency (thinking we'd be back in Louisville). After much advice, I decided to leave my job and start over on the job search summer of 2008. God quickly provided me with a FANTASTIC experience at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and income to support my husband while he follows his dreams! Then we kept our condo in Louisville thinking we'd come back. As it got closer to the job search for Andrew, he had office visits and offers in Charleston, SC, several in Nashville, TN, Louisville, KY, Elizabethtown, KY, and looking at Dallas, TX. Notice, St. Louis was NEVER on our radar. Well, God was in control even though we tried hard to make it work in Nashville (I was accepted into a Doctorate program there). All along, Andrew prayed that the decision will be evident. I think it became evident when I was accepted into the top occupational therapy program in the U.S. and given a scholarship!! In addition, Andrew was given an incredible opportunity in St. Louis. What sold him on the practice, are the genuine people and his senior associates. Andrew's friend from dental school called a year ago to tell him about working in St. Louis and it's amazing how we never saw this coming!! We surrendered, gave up our worries to God and trusted Him with our plans (Jeremiah 29:11). Andrew has sealed the deal with Dentistry for Children & Adolescents!! Check out their website here!!
Just missing 1...JR became a new father that week!!
Surprise party at River Inn's Rooftop Terrace! Where we saw family, friends, professors, and friends from our church and small group!! Couldn't have asked for better support during all this time!!
Fantastic and yummy chocolate cake with strawberries and cream filling!! 
