Until Death Do You Part

(My older brother is in the military, and is engaged to his childhood sweetheart. She’s a full-time nursing student and is struggling to juggle work, family, and schooling. Due to his service complications, he is unable to provide her any financial support until they’re officially married. They’ve decided to be married by a JOP (Justice Of The Peace) over the weekend, instead of a vintage ceremony after she graduates. Our families have driven over 10 hours to meet them. My brother has been on the phone for over five hours trying to find someone to marry them. All the JOP’s in the next five towns were off the whole weekend, and no preacher felt comfortable marrying them without at least six months of marriage counseling.)

Brother: “Dad! I’ve found someone willing! They’re in [town another five hours away], and we need to be there by 2pm tomorrow!”

Dad: “Are you serious? Five hours! You can’t make that.”

(My brother and his fiancée have to be back on his base by 5pm on Friday to put in the financial paper work. Otherwise, this was all for naught.)

Brother: “Yeah, sure we can! “

Me: “No, you can’t. The five hour drive back means you won’t make it by 5pm.”

Brother: “We’ll make it.”

(The next day, both families pack up and are halfway to the town, when my brother phones us.)

Brother: “Turn back! We told a secretary here out story, and she called in a personal favor! He’s the first JOP I asked! He’d said no, since he’s only part-time and will be working at his business today. He can marry us here at noon!”

Dad: “That’s great! Why didn’t he agree to do it before?”

Brother: “Well… he’s working at a funeral home today. They’re painting, so he’s in ripped clothes and he can’t leave. We have to perform the ceremony there. [Fiancée] doesn’t really like it, but we’re taking what we can get.”

(My brother and new sister-in-law were married in the chapel of a funeral home, with the other seven of us standing between empty caskets! We joke about the story they’ll tell their children, and how the ceremony was ‘really dead.’ Love persists!)