Planning our wedding with SharksThere are some 60 reported shark attacks world wide every year. The thought of being in the water near sharks is enough to evoke intense fear in nearly anyone in any culture, any language. But not so for four intrepid travelers in November 2005 who eagerly entered waters with some 6 species of sharks including hammerheads, black tip, white tip, and even a seven foot Tiger Shark. Who were these brave souls? None other than my good friend and business partner Nathan, his girlfriend Dulcey, Malissa and yours truly. More about the sharks later.
The occasion was a vacation in Maui where Malissa and I were also investigating possible sites for our wedding. We settled on a location on the on the island of Kauai, a botanical garden called Na Aina Kai, (http://www.naainakai.org/) which is Hawaiian for “lands by the sea”.
We were wed on August 5th with a simple, elegant ceremony and delightful reception next to the ocean on the same property. Pictures are here: http://pics.visp.net/tm_wedding/wedding_day/index.html
A picture is worth a thousand words, but here are a few of the great stories that our pictures didn’t capture:
Wedding Day Mischief
On the morning of the wedding Malissa was careful to arrange my transportation to the wedding site. As you can imagine working with a professional coordinator, every event was carefully planned with a schedule. The music, walking down the isle, the ceremony, then the pictures, then the hors de'orves, dinner, etc. was timed to the minute. She would make a good system administrator because she carefully coordinated redundant systems, a primary ride with Jeff and a backup ride with Ken, so if one failed, the other one would be standing by. She scheduled our arrival an hour in advance with an hour to make the 45 minute drive. Then she called all of us that morning and said traffic in Lihui was *terrible* and suggested we leave an hour earlier.
Everything worked according to her plan, except that there was no traffic, but she didn't know that. So naturally, being the boys that we are, we seized the opportunity. We knew all the girls were with Malissa helping her get ready. I rode with Jeff, and Ken drove his boys. After we breezed through Lihui Jeff called his wife and said, “I just wanted to call and let you know we got a late start and we are just leaving, and Todd is with Ken...” When we all arrived (ahead of schedule, an hour before the wedding) we stopped in the parking lot at the wedding site, hidden from view. We could hardly control our laughter. Ken mustered up a straight face and called his wife and said, “I just talked to Jeff... I thought Todd was with Jeff and Jeff thought Todd was with me, so now Jeff is going back to get Todd... oh and by the way, the traffic in Lihui was *terrible*... (a two to three hour round trip for a wedding scheduled to start in forty minutes).
Our clever scheme was working perfectly. Tony and Irina pulled up and we told them what was going on and gave Irena specific instructions not say a word and she went in the cottage to join Malissa and the other girls. Even the most disciplined soldiers have their breaking point under intense torture. She held out for nearly 10 minutes without saying a word. To Malissa's credit, she hadn't shed a tear, but she was reaching a high-stress boiling point and Irena couldn't take it any longer... so she confessed. Malissa says she and Calvin owe me big-time. I know hunny... I know. ;-) I love my wife -she's a good sport.
Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!
So a week or so after the festivities we stopped by Borders Bookstore. Of the thousands of titles, I spent the most time reading through the new edition of Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Imagine my shock I saw flaming proposal picture story. I truly had no idea Ripley’s had picked up the article carried by the associated press and published the picture. It's on page 43 if you want to check it out. But if you happen to buy a copy, don’t pay $30 like I did; last I checked, Costco carried them for about $13.
The Wedding Shirt Memory
The Kauai wedding and reception was followed by a Grants Pass reception on August 28th hosted at the home of our good friends, Ken & Rose Jerin. You might notice in the pictures that the shirt I was wearing was wet and shredded by the end of the night. That story goes back to July 4th, 2005, the day I proposed to Malissa. (see http://www.hotproposal.com/) It seems four armed men, Nathan, Tony, Judson, and Calvin (that’s eight arms!) thought I might be a little warm and dry on that hot Oregon day, so they hauled me off to the pool. I think they know I could have taken them all down, but being the gentleman that I am, I let them throw me in
An elephant never forgets, and I'm not one to pass a good opportunity to share a little practical-joke-love. So on the day of our reception in Grants Pass, Nathan was fated to get thrown in the pool. After the fact, we said he “fell in”, because at some point when a full grown man gets projected into space, if he’s close enough to Earth, gravity takes over, which it did, and he happened to land in the pool! Somewhere along the way, the very wedding shirt I wore during our wedding ceremony got massively torn. It was a casualty. But to this, my sister Susanne soothed the moment with a profound sentiment that completely reframed our mourning, “Before you had a wedding shirt, but now you have a memory!” Here, here!
Malissa and I feel very grateful to those who were able to devote the resources to join us in Kauai. We know it was expensive and a big commitment. We sincerely appreciate those who joined us at our reception in Grants Pass. We also want to gratefully acknowledge those who could not join the celebration. Thank you sincerely for being part of our life and experience.
About those sharks
So what about those sharks? The Maui Ocean Center has a 750,000 gallon aquarium and offers scuba dive interaction tours inside the tank just before feeding time each day. Why is it before feeding time and not after? Perhaps the food is a reward for not eating the paying customers? After a 20 minute “How-to-swim-with-sharks-without-getting-eaten-alive” course, we dawned our tanks and entered the water. Inside the tank are hundreds of fish, including two huge puffer fish, maybe 20-30 inches long and dozens of rays and 24 sharks. One of the rays is a white spotted eagle ray affectionately called “Miss Piggy” because she's the center of attention anytime you happen to have a clam -her favorite treat.
The sharks were cautious at first, but after a few minutes, caution turned to curiosity -almost like a cat- and they started to swim a little closer. Eventually they were swimming within a few feet. Malissa and I even reached out to touch some of them as they swam close. No bites or wounds. What fun!
It left a lasting impression on all of us. In November 2006, Nathan turned the adrenalin into romance and planned a trip for the four of us to dive in the world's largest aquarium at Epcot center in Florida, complete with its own crew of sharks and other critters. Little did his girlfriend Dulcey know, he had every last detail worked out for a cool underwater proposal. (See http://www.5throck.org/) She said yes. The wedding date is set for late June.
Malissa has been diving with these toothy critters twice no less. Anytime we talk to divers I tell them about my wife who likes to dive with sharks. The response is pretty universal look like, “you guys are crazy.” Truth is, in an aquarium, they’re pretty well fed.
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