The Elopement Story

Okay, I just got called out for not blogging. Yup, you are right...but come on, you know how it is...I was busy with work, and with secretly eloping, and well, you can't blog if you are scared you might blow the news on your secret elopement. Hey, let's talk about the elopement...
The trouble actually began back in November or so when my television broke. I was playing video games on the Game Cube when suddenly the TV flickered and then there was no more. I haven't admitted this, but I am pretty sure I broke it by overwatering my plant. (I had a plant that I would forget to water sitting above the TV on the stand, and so it's dry soil was unprepared for the amount of water I tried to give it to save it...thus overflowing water and I suspect splashing water into the electrical socket....)
With no TV, suddenly I had much less to do at my place. Then, I decided to get a treadmill for Maebe and myself. We decided to put it at Cam's house because he has a working TV...and now I am spending even less time at place.
Suddenly I am becoming frustrated about paying all these bills for a place I only sleep in, and having to clean two places....which brings us to the stove...
The stove was leaking for some time, and had been replaced multiple times. Around my birthday, it started to leak carbon monoxide fairly significantly. I had a heating guy over who blamed the stove...and a stove guy who blamed the heating unit. All the while, my carbon monoxide tester was going berserk. Something needed to be done.
Meanwhile, Governor Ritter was signing various house bills and COGCC rules...Halliburton responded by cutting hours and all overtime from their employees. Cam was beginning to realize that he was going to have a hard time paying the bills...

That is what brought us to a time to make a decision...we talked about moving in together...but we knew that my parents would be pissed, but more than that, we knew we wouldn't be thrilled with that decision. It would be against what we believe, and we would also have to hide it from those who share that belief. Not good.
Which brings us to January 18, the day after my birthday. My family (my parents, my cousin and her family, my aunt and uncle, plus Cam and I) are all assembled to celebrate Aunt Ger's and my birthdays. Oh...sorry, need to rewind...
I heard rumors some time ago that my cousin and her husband secretly eloped a few months before her wedding. Her mother had told me, but also told me that her daughter didn't know that she knew...(did you get any of that? Don't worry, it's not that important...)
As various people segment into conversation, I isolate the cousin and husband, and ask them to tell me the truth. She shushes me, fearful of her mother overhearing and finding out, to which I laugh that her mother is the one who told me. The cousin and cousin's husband then tell Cam and I everything. They didn't want to live in sin, but she needed to get out of her place...and they thought it was one of the best things they had ever done. It removed all the stress of the wedding day. No concerns of whether her husband would show up, no jitters, no stress over details going wrong. They were even able to take it all in and enjoy themselves. They made it sound so good.
Cam and I were hooked. We went out to dinner to talk about it, and got so absorbed, Cam accidentally stole a cup from the restaurant. We determined that 10 days later we would run off to Vegas and do it.
Three days later we broke down and told my parents what we were considering. They were in favor of it and even bought me a cute dress for the event.
1/29/09: We drive to Vegas, and go straight to the marriage license place. It takes less than 10 minutes to get the license we need. We go to the hotel to change, and then head up the strip in a taxi looking for the ideal location. The driver recommends the Little White Chapel. We arrive, and within 20 minutes the chapel has assembled our reverend and our photographer/witness. The ceremony is short, simple, and very sweet. I cry. The funny Italian photographer takes many pictures for us. We get in a limo and head back down the strip.
We spend a short weekend in Vegas, just celebrating our secret marriage. On our way back, we stop in Mesquite for the night and see the Oasis is shut down. Suddenly our plans are a mess and we have decisions to make.
We think for 6 weeks about whether we should tell people or not, whether we should change the location, whether we should have a wedding, or just a reception, or maybe just an exotic honeymoon. Finally, we decide to have a wedding as planned, and have an exotic honeymoon, but also to go ahead and tell everyone. I am to look for a wedding dress today. That is the story of what and why, pretty fast and not particularly well told. But now you know. (And knowing is half the battle!)
By the way, the Little White Chapel is where Michael Jordan and Brittany Spears got married. But not to each other.