My roommate from Basic Training and good good friend decided to go and get herself hitched and, despite being across an ocean from her, I wasn’t going to miss it for the world! So, the morning after a wild night in London (see previous blog) I was on an airplane to Chicago to witness the union of Victoria Ross and Tim McBride.
Upon landing in Chicago after a long, but on the whole not so bad, flight, I made my way through the Chicago airport. My baggage came quickly, I got to go to through the military line at customs (LOVE IT) and made it to the rental car agency quite easily. I got my car and started driving to Orland Park for the wedding. I almost turned out of the parking lot onto the left side of the road but remembered what country I’m in and, thankfully, made it to Orland Park with no problems. Two observations about my drive to Orland Park:
1. LaGrange is one of the cutest little “Main Street USAs” I’ve seen in a long while. What makes a town English (or European) is the “High Street”, what makes a town Americana is “Main Street”. This one was adorable.
2. Here is a sample of the food places I saw on my way. Welcome to America: Wendy’s, Fatburger, Hooters, Panera, Chick-fil-A, 5 Guys, Dunkin Donuts, Red Robin, Olive Garden, Panda Express, and many more.
I finally arrived at the hotel, checked in, and relaxed until it was time for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I was going to ride along in the caravan that was going from the hotel to the church but it turns out that Missy and Scarlett (two of the bridesmaids), who were driving Vicki’s car, were in a bit of a fender bender and therefore Vicki had no way to get to the church for the wedding ceremony rehearsal. I came to the rescue and drove Vicki, Collette (other bridesmaids), and Margaret (basically Vicki’s mom) to the church for the rehearsal. While there I also served as photographer and took tons of pictures on Vicki’s camera throughout the rehearsal. I must also include the fact that I MET BRIAN MCBRIDE!!!!! Here I will go into a bit of a side story about Vicki and Tim and my hopes for their relationship; you can skip ahead to the next paragraph if you don’t care.
So in late 2006 (I think, maybe early 2007) I received an email from Vicki with a picture of Brian McBride in a match with the US National team. The email simply asked “Do you know who this is?” Now, being the ridiculous US football fan that I am, I of course knew who he was and proceeded to tell her all about him- the teams he had played for, his strengths on the pitch, etc. Wondering why she was asking, I asked her why she cared and her response was “Well, you know that guy I just started dating? Tim?” “Yeah.” I replied. “Well,” she responded “his name is Tim McBride.” That was when I freaked out, learning that Tim was Brian’s younger brother. From that point on I have never rooted for a successful relationship more than I did for that one! I basically wanted them to get married solely so that I could meet Brian McBride at the wedding. Fast forward 3 years.
While we were waiting for Scarlett and Missy to arrive at the church, Vicki introduced me to Brian, telling him the story of when Vicki found out who Tim’s brother was and had no idea who he was. Brian thought it was pretty funny and we talked a little bit about Oxford and living in England and it was pretty amazing..... I played it cool though and carried on the conversation like a normal human being but it was pretty amazing to get to chat with one of the greatest footballers in US history. After the rehearsal we headed over to Traverso’s Pizza, a pizza joint where Tim worked in high school, and had some great pizza dinner, tried not to cry as Tim and Vicki gave their little speeches, and tried not to fall asleep on the 4 hours of sleep I was working on in the last 48 hours or so. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and the girls hung out a bit longer, chatting and gossiping and eating oreos. What a total girlie thing to do. Finally I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer so I went to bed, passing out completely the second my head hit the pillow.
Despite being absolutely exhausted, the jetlag did hit me and so I was up and wide awake at 6 the next morning. At least that gave me time to get in a workout (using my new TRX in my hotel room) and shower before heading out to eat some breakfast (PANERA) and get my wedding gift (yeah, kinda last minute but I didn’t want to have to deal with buying it in the states). I then watched the West Ham-Man City game (yeah, back in the states and I’m STILL watching football) and just relaxed in the hotel until lunchtime (5 Guys) before changing for the wedding.
I then headed over to the church for the actual wedding ceremony which was beautiful and moving. Vicki looked absolutely GORGEOUS in her dress and I loved the look on Tim’s face as he watched her walk down the aisle.
It was Catholic ceremony so there were times during which I was a bit lost, but on the whole I enjoyed the ceremony and was so happy I got to see it. After the ceremony I returned to the hotel and waited for the cocktail hour and reception (which were held in the hotel’s conference centre) and while waiting watched the end of the Army-Navy football game.
At the reception I sat with Katie Murrell (who I met while working as Group Commander my last semester at the Academy) and Kyle Rainwaters (who was in my 4 degree squadron) and enjoyed the dinner and dessert and dancing. Vicki then made it her mission (which no prompting by me whatsoever) to get me a photo with Brian which, of course, I didn’t object to.
I won the prize for having traveled the farthest for the wedding (coming from England sort of helped my case) and got a bottle of champagne for my efforts. 
Despite being exhausted and having an early flight to get to, I of course stayed for the whole reception, before saying goodbye to Tim and Vicki and getting some sleep before driving back to the airport the next morning.
Woke up to a small blanket of snow and very icy roads and, considering I haven’t driven much in the last year and not at all in the snow since early 2009, I was pretty nervous about the drive to the airport. I left really early to make sure I got there in time and, thankfully, made it back without a hitch. Also thankfully, my flight was one of few that wasn’t cancelled out of Chicago and so I got in the air and on my way to California with no problems whatsoever. Its soooooo good to be home, especially considering the fact that it was 81F (27C) when I landed with a beautiful SoCal sun!
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