Today is exactly 40 days until my next Disney vacation, and in that spirit, I thought I’d share another of my favorite Disney memories.
The year: 2006. ST was 4 years old, and GT was 2. We had just moved to Texas for my job back in May, and our vacation was planned for September. TK and I had been through a really trying year in our marriage; he had survived a heart attack and we had survived an overall tough year in our marriage. At that time, TK was a full-time stay-at-home Dad and I was traveling a lot and working too much and we had drifted apart. We had even talked about separating for a while – that’s how far we had drifted. I had just gotten the job offer from Texas, and we’d decided to start fresh in Texas and give it another year.
What TK didn’t know was that I’d planned a big surprise for him this year on our vacation. I had done some big soul searching and decided that no job was ever going to come between me and my family again. That no sense of my own inflated ego was going to come before my commitment to my husband. To that end, I’d been working with a Disney wedding planner to renew our vows while we were there. It was our five-year-anniversary, after all. I’d also arranged to have my parents and his parents flown in, as a surprise. I’d also decided to fly in my sister and her family as well. In short, I’d planned a full wedding ceremony to pledge my love to TK – and he knew nothing about it.
Part of the preparation included purchasing a wedding gown for me and a suit for TK. I found them both on eBay. Only – I didn’t know what suit size TK wore. I decided to go look through our closet.
If you recall, we’d just moved to Texas for my job. So we were still in temporary housing. TK hadn’t brought any of his dress clothes, only casual ones because he knew he wouldn’t be looking for work for quite some time – at least until we found a house and got settled. So there were no suits for me to look at. Only jeans and polos. So I took the sizes off of those and ordered the suit and dress shirt.
Our big day arrived, around the 3rd day of our vacation. I kept an itinerary of what we’d planned for each day, and every morning TK was in the habit of asking what we were doing that day. On this morning, I said, “We’re in the Animal Kingdom in the morning, and then after nap, I thought I’d marry you all over again.”
He looked up, shirt half-on. “What?” he asked.
I smiled. “I thought I’d marry you all over again. I had our families flown in. The ceremony is at 4:00.”
He burst into laughter. “What!?! Are you serious??”
“I sure am!” I beamed.
“Well, I don’t have anything to wear!” he said, flustered.
“No problem,” I told him, “I had a suit shipped here and D, your brother-in-law, is going to help you get ready.”
“Really?” he smiled, shyly, getting excited.
“Yes,” I grinned, “I love you. And I want to marry you all over again.”
Finally the time came. Of course, like any wedding, things went wrong. The suit I’d bought him was way too small. He couldn’t button the top button. His face was red in most of the pictures because the pants were so tight. (Turns out you can’t measure suit size from jeans.) My parents’ flight was delayed and they missed the whole ceremony. GT, being 2, fussed and I had to hold him the whole ceremony.
Yet it was still magical. Dancing to our song, a Disney violinist playing. Cutting the cake. TK dancing a dance with his little 4-year-old daughter. Posing for photos in the Wilderness Lodge with the whole wedding party – TK and his best friend. Me and my sister. Going to the Artist Point restaurant later, with custom menus congratulating us on our wedding. The surprise gift from Disney – his and hers gold and sterling silver watches.
It was wonderful. I love you, TK, and always will.
