The Great Escape

Our wedding reception went as planned, without incident. Jim was so handsome in his tux. Mom rested all day after the temple so she could be there. It was only the second time I had seen her in a long dress with her hair in an "updo" AND a little makeup to help her look less pale and gaunt from her progressing illness. The first time was at my sister's wedding. I noticed that she looked so much more thin and fragile than I remembered her then. Of course my dad, Jesse and Jean and members of the bridal party were there in line for the reception.

It was after the reception that things got "interesting"...no...CRAZY!!!! We were very aware of the new craze that was circulating among friends of newly weds viz. kidnapping the bride and groom after the reception and driving one to Provo and the other to Ogden and just dropping them off there. There had actually been one incident when the car carrying the bride was involved in an accident which killed the bride. Can you imagine such a tragedy? So the idea of this happening to us was a bit scary. Some of Jim's unmarried friends were not beyond attempting such a stunt or something else just as disrupting of our wedding night. We weren't disappointed. After changing into our "get away" clothes at the church, we sneaked out the rear door to where our car was, "inconspicuously" parked only to discover that it had been jacked up and put on blocks so the wheels just spun. Jim had thought of the possibility that something something like this would happen to disable it. Just decorating it for fun would have been nice, but these friends weren't necessarily nice. So he had arranged backup plan just in case. He had arranged for his brother to be waiting in another car to pick us up if necessary. And it was necessary. But by the time we were getting into that car, the friends realized we were not in the church and had run outside just to see us get into that car and the chase was on. By the time they reached their cars we had a head start. We had several other advantages. We knew the neighborhood and they didn't, and because it was dark and they were chasing a car unfamiliar to them they had to slow down and look into every passing car. We ducked down in the back seat in hopes that they wouldn't see us if they passed. After driving around the neighborhood a few times, we met my Uncle and Aunt and transferred into their car. They drove around for a while to make sure they weren't being followed, then dropped us off at my house. But I guess when our adversaries had been unsuccessful in the car chase, they decided to check out my house. When we saw them out front we ran through my back yard to the back yard of the neighbors on the next street. Since we knew these neighbors, Dad was on the phone asking them to let us in the house. We stayed there for I don't remember how long, but long enough to feel comfortable that they had given up on the chase and that Jesse had gotten our car off the blocks so we could use it to drive to our destination, our Ogden apartment. All that I remember at this point was that I was SO tired and we still had a "long" drive ahead of us. It had been a very long day.

We finally arrived at our apartment very late that night. Actually, I'm sure that it was very early in the morning. Did I say that I was tired? Well now I was really, really tired. So tired, in fact, that all I wanted to do was sleep. To heck with it being my wedding night. I'm sure you won't believe me when I say that we just crawled into bed and went to sleep, but that is true. Jim was just as tired as me. But I have to admit, it was the best sleep I had ever had because for the first time I was cuddled up in the arms of my sweetheart and HUSBAND. It all felt so good and so right.