The story of love.....or hormones, either way...it's a story

In light of it being my 5 year wedding Anniversary, I thought I would tell the story of our very odd, very last-minute marriage. It can be rather humorous. I laugh about it every time I tell someone.

Dominick and I moved in together in January of 2005 when I was about 4 months pregnant with our daughter. We lived on the other side of town from my parents, and I talked to my mom on the phone nearly every day. Once a year, my dad flies to Las Vegas for what we call the "geek convention". A convention for all the technology geeks and engineers and such. So we were talking about that because it was the coming week. I don't remember how exactly it came about, but we hung up the phone, then a few minutes later my mom calls back and says "I just booked a room for you at the Excalibur, tell me you'll come and I'll pay for the chapel for you and Dominick to get married."

To say the least I was a bit shocked. I called Dom and told him, and as it turns out he was planning on "eloping" that week anyways. He was a bit perturbed that my mom had taken such authority without talking to him first (man-ego), but he agreed anyways and that Thursday morning we woke up and headed out.

This is where it gets fun. Imagine with me, if you will, being in the middle of the dessert, stopped in traffic because a gas truck tipped over, 7 months pregnant, in a 1994 Buick, in over-alls.........2 hours after having breakfast.......drinking all that milk and water..........

 No motor homes around.

No off-ramp for miles.

Just us surrounded by big-rigs.

 To say the least, if you ever need to know, I can tell you the technique for urinating in such conditions. All you need is a cigarette lighter, a pen and a water bottle.....oh, and preferably NOT the driver of a big-rig laughing uncontrollably at you while kindly doing his best to keep up with you as to not let anyone else witness your humility.

 Ok. So we finally get through traffic, dump the bottle at a Subway, and make it to Vegas. Now, the reason my mom made it a point to pay for our room and the chapel, was because all she had to do was tag along with my dad to his convention, and they would be able to be there for the wedding. (makes sense). Dom really wanted it to be quiet, just us and my parents, but he had to invite his best friend, Tom, from New Mexico to be his sort of "best man", and from there his Mentor found out, and he brought their friend James, and their other friend from Utah was in town for the same convention as my dad and he found out and showed up with his wife....all in all what was supposed to be three guests ended up being 9 or 10. Not what we had envisioned, but hey, what can we say, people love us!!

The night we arrived, we settled in to our hotel room then walked to the MGM for dinner with my parents. After that we strolled for a while then walked back to the hotel. I can't even begin to explain the amount of swelling in my feet and legs. I crashed. Sleep better than I had in months.

The next morning we got up so freaking early. I don't remember what exact time but I do remember thinking that it was ungodly. We drove to the courthouse and got our marriage license, and then went to Target to buy a ring. We had gotten his ring and a swap meet, but I didn't have one yet. So we got the ring, then went to the airport to pick up Tom. After waiting for nearly an hour we called Tom to find out we had been sitting at the wrong gate, he had arrived and was already walking around the strip. So we met up with him (he brought his girlfriend) and had lunch, then headed back to the hotel for a nap and to get ready.

 I slept, then showered and got dressed in my wedding garb: a pair of capri's and a blue blouse. (I was huge, there was no way I was going to wear anything less comfy. I would have gone for pajamas, but I do have some form) Of course at 5 pm there is traffic on the strip, and I was freaking out that we were going to be late for our own wedding, but we made it. We signed all the paper work, met the guy who would be marrying us, and headed to the room. It was the "goth room" as I called it. Cark purple and black velvet lined the walls, ceiling, and floor. the chairs had dark red velvet slip-covers on them. It was actually very pretty, I thought. We began the ceremony, and I totally thought Dom was going to break down in tears, he always cries, but it was me, not him, who ended up sobbing like a little baby.

It was beautiful.

 After the "I pronounce you" we went outside for some photos and then went to the Pink Flamingo buffet for dinner. Then we went back to the hotel and I once again crashed while Dom went and played poker for two hours. The next day we drove home with no fiascos.

So that is the story of how Dominick and I became Mr. and Mrs. McCullough.

Eventful, for sure, but more importantly very memorable, and a great conversation piece.