Our Wedding

Thursday, April 16th 2015: It was around 8am, warm in the mid 80’s, clear Carolina blue skies, and I was sitting at RDU International. I was waiting on a flight to land and pick up my best friend and best man, Nick. He was flying in from Chicago and I was trying to hold back the boredom from not only the two hour drive from my moms at the beach but the horrible music in the airport. Damien was with me for the drive which did me no good as he slept the whole ride. Some travel partner right? So, Nicks flight lands, we do the bro hug and grab his bags and head out. Cabela’s had just opened it’s first NC location the day before so we made a slight detour to check out the grand opening. After wards we grabbed some lunch and headed down to Topsail Island, NC That night we all hung out at my moms, grilled out and enjoyed a few beers. Then we settled in for the night.

Friday, April 17th 2015: The wedding is tomorrow, I’m not nervous or anything at least not yet. Picked up Nick’s 10-day visitors fishing license, last min supplies, got the place for the wedding set up and prepped. Other people were flying in or driving in. Becke and I went to the courthouse and all the needed licenses   done up and luckily we were having a small wedding at the beach, so we didn’t have to plan a whole lot. We had all permits and got everything in order. Nick and I made fun of the locals, ate some grub, got our fishing gear ready for the afterparty, then we went out to the beach for a bit. We didn’t really do a lot that day so by sunset we were at moms mingled with everyone and had few more beers with dinner.

Saturday, April 18th 2015: it’s a clear beautiful day high 70s here in beautiful Topsail Island, NC. Hear ye Hear ye! The day is here, that I, Chase, am to be wed. A day in which I swore wouldn’t happen. Woke up like any other day, kicked Nick to wake his lazy ass up, kids were up, mom had breakfast going and Becke was gone with her maid of honor, Rochelle, her brother Wayne, her mom Alice and Dad Larry. People were calling and texting for directions and making sure they were in the right area. Nick and I were taking the food my mom and step dad had made up to the reception hall. We drove back by the water to check on it and see how the fishing was then we went for some snacks. By now its around noon, wedding is to start at 2, so I hop in the shower. Get all nice, fresh and clean half way dressed when my mom comes beating on the door. She’s yelling its urgent, Wayne was trying to call me on the phone and I needed to call him back asap! So I get dried off, I’m standing their half dressed in my pants, shirt half tucked, tie half done and no socks. I remember thinking, great, Becke’s dress don’t fit, or a zipper broke, maybe her hair wasn’t done up right. So I call Wayne, he answered CHASE? And in typical fashion I said, Yo, whats up?, the next statement hit me like a sack of bricks to the face. I wasn’t ready for this and to be honest, I lost all brain functions and thought process. Wayne said “Chase, Becke is extremely sick, she’s shaking and she isn’t getting better and we’re driving her to the hospital as we speak.”

I would be lying if I told you, I wasn’t scared. All I could muster up and say in reply was “keep me posted”. Keep me posted? What the hell was I thinking? I walked into the living room and I looked at Nick and I looked at my mom and I said “Becke’s on her way to the hospital. So I guess we’re gonna cancel the wedding now.” My mom fell down on the love-seat and broke down crying. The boys were upset and trying to hold the tears back the best they could, and I told them to change and get back into some normal comfy clothes. Nick came up to me, gave me a hug, said “It’ll be alright. she’s going to be okay. It’s not to late to run if you want to though” By now its 145pm and people are calling me, were supposed to be starting in 15 minuets, guests are gathering, my bride is being drove down I-40 back to the hospital and I’m standing in my moms living room, half dressed and I have to now explain to everyone who showed up from 2hours away, all the way up to 8 hours away. What do I say? How do I explain this? So, Nick and I get in the car and drive the 5min to the location, I gather everyone and i’ll never forget it as long as I live, people were so happy, taking pictures and all I could think of was how the fuck do I explain this? I looked at Nick and shrugged my shoulders and I said “Well, thanks for showing up however this will have to be postponed. Becke is currently on her way to the hospital and as of right now I don’t know the current condition she’s in. So please, everyone lets migrate to the reception area, lets enjoy this food, it’s the least I can offer for your travels.” That has probably been one of the hardest moments in my life.

Everyone came to the reception and ate the amazing food my mother and step dad made. Me? Didn’t eat anything. The Cake? Still to this day I didn’t eat any. I heard it was amazing though. Actually I heard all the food was fantastic. So now, from 2pm until around 7 or 8pm I hung out with everyone, spending time from table to table talking and trying to keep spirits up of all Becke’s family and friends as well as my family and friends. I remember sitting with April (Becke’s close friend) and her husband Tommy, and all I could say was Im sorry. April grabbed my hand and said it was fine, Im doing a great job. (Thanks April, seriously.) I remember I sat with my God Parents Marianne and Jimmy, their daughter Jessica, My sister Tina and my niece Kali and nephew Ty and I remember telling them how I’m sorry they drove from Virginia and it had come to this. (Thanks for keeping my spirits up and keeping me together all night.) I felt bad for Nick later because, during all of this I totally left him to mingle with everyone else. Luckily he knew some of the people that made it like Dave, Matt and Ross. By the end of the night, around 10pm when the last few guest finally left, I don’t think at that point it had sunk in.

My mom kept the boys for me that night, and told me to get Nick and head out, so we did. Nick and I went to the house, changed clothes and I was going to grab a bottle of Jameson’s but Nick persuaded me to go to drop a line. So we grabbed the gear and went fishing. We sat on the Seaview fishing pier from 9pm until 4am. You know what we caught? Well, I caught a measly baby sting ray that tried to stab me like I was Steve Irwin or something, and Nick? This dude caught the biggest fish in the world, the pole was bent into a U shape, he was reeling it in with every bit of might he had, the guys around us were watching to see what was fixing to break the surface of the water. I’m leaning over, trying to find out, Nick is giving this fish hell, and then he dug down deep, leaned down and yanked back and broke the line. As I was leaning over, I watched the line slowly fall, Nick, you idiot, you caught the damn pier. Shortly after that he caught a sting ray, I mean, “Flat Shark” as he says. That was literately all we caught. We packed it up and went home, it was around 5 am or so and fell asleep and that was my wedding day.

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Sunday, April 19th 2015: We wake up around 11am and I felt like crap. I packed up mine and Nicks stuff in the car and we left to find Becke. Drove straight to Wake Med Cary, room 375. Nick and I were talking with Becke in the room, she was now stable after going sepsis. Wayne had come by and I remember looking at Becke in the hospital bed, Nick in the one chair, Wayne in the other chair, and I said lets get married here. I’ll call April, she lives down the road practically, why not? Becke had said no at first, because she didn’t know if April was home, and didn’t want to put her out on such short notice. But it was to late, I had already text April. Again, April, Tommy and little Eowyn made it to the hospital 30 min later. April preformed the services for us in the room, and Nick and Wayne signed as our witnesses. (Thanks again April for your services, and special thanks to Nick for always being there for me.)

Saturday, May 21st 2016: Becke is currently laying in a hospital bed at Duke University Medical Hospital room 7303. She has had 20+ surgeries and has spent maybe 6 weeks out of the hospital since April 2014 when all of her issues started. We continue to fight every day against her Crohn’s disease. Its been a long road to this point, but I love my wife and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I Love you, my Queen.

-C