Life after joining: Part 3 “Getting Married”

We set a “wedding” date

About two weeks before graduation, I mentioned to one of my instructors that I would be getting married when I graduated from tech school. After asking me some very pressing questions about if I was sure (she was going through a divorce) she said “you know, it’s a lot harder to get your spouse on your orders if you wait until you get to your first base. If you all are going to the courthouse anyway, you might as well do it here so he can be on your orders”.

Those words sealed the deal and Brandon and I planned for him to come to Wichita Falls the last week of my training so we could get married. Brandon decided to take the bus to save money. The bus ride would be 43 hours to Wichita Falls and 38 hours back to Detroit. That’s love.

Everything had to happen so quickly. What’s funny is how we told our parents. Can you imagine two teenagers getting up the nerve to “tell” our parents we were getting married. We were not “asking” for their permission nor did we want to hear the many reasons they felt it was not a good idea. We had prayed about it, and we wanted to be together, period.

Brandon’s family had more hesitation than mine. And rightfully so. They wanted Brandon to finish his education and live his life a little before making such a huge committment. I remember being on the phone with Brandon and him putting me on hold to tell his parents. I felt like I was literally holding my breath the whole time. Brandon made sure he had every answer to any possible questions or concerns they could have and to our surprise they were both like “Okay, we trust you and if this is what ya’ll want, then we will support you.”

When I told my family they were so happy to know that Brandon would be joining the family. My mom, grandparents, Uncle Eric and Aunt Carla, who had just left my basic training graduation said, “why didn’t ya’ll just get married after graduation while we were all there!” They LOVED them some Brandon! In my family it wasn’t uncommon for young people to get married. My grandparents were teenagers when they got married and so were my parents. I remember the older people at my church being so proud that we were an example of “doing it the right way”. The way they taught us in Sunday school that we should get married before having children. Although, I do believe there were several people who suspected we were getting married because I was pregnant! Boy were they wrong! It would take us 16 more years before we would be blessed with Camille, after several years of trying.

No turning back

Well, the day was finally here. I was to pick Brandon up from the airport in a borrowed car. Not many people had cars in Tech School, but I had just barely met this girl that had one. I can’t believe she trusted me enough to take her car for the entire day! Thinking back on it, I can’t believe I made it to the airport without using GPS on my phone—I didn’t even have a cell phone back then! Crazy!

It was the weekend, so the plan was to pick him up, drop him off at the hotel room, go back to the dorm for accountability and then go back to the hotel. Well, I completely forgot and MISSED ACCOUNTABILITY. When I reported to the Military Training Leader (MTL) in my head I was like “it’s my birthday AND I am getting married on Monday, give me a break!”.  I of course, did NOT say that. I’m pretty sure I just sat there looking stupid because I knew this could jeopardize me leaving on time or something negative going on my record. So, when I was told I just had to write a 1000-word paper on why accountability was important, I felt relieved and then depressed all in the same moment.

Who can say they wrote a 1000-word paper on their honeymoon? Me. I can.

Besides that, everything turned out great. We went to Zales to get our wedding rings (and financed them for way too much) then went to JCPenny’s and opened a credit card to pay for a sundress to wear to the courthouse (boy did we have a lot to learn about finances). Fun fact, it turns out we later met several couples who have the same judge in their wedding day photo! I guess a lot of people were told how much easier it would be to get your spouse on your orders if you go ahead and get married at Tech School…LOL

It’s official

My orders said we were going to Hurlburt Field AFB in FLORIDA! I was super excited to be getting a good location for my first base especially since South Dakota was a possibility.

The countdown was on

After graduation I went home on leave for two weeks and had a big wedding reception at both of our churches (it was great, everyone gave us money). The original plan was for us to head down to Florida to fulfill my four-year enlistment and then I would get out.

But you know how God likes to laugh at our plans, right?…