wedding road trip

Marriage is Just Easy (in Texas)

Once upon a time in a land far far away, I was very, very bored. So I did what all good twenty-somethings do when they are listless with no evening plans- I jumped on Craig’s List.

Now, I must say, this was one of only two occasions in my lifetime that I have looked for a date on Craig’s List. The second time I ended up going out with an AirSoft rifle-toting, band-starting, psych ward resident freak named Travis. The first time, I met Chris.

From the moment I met him, Chris and I were destined to be “just friends”. Perhaps it was because I couldn’t handle the fact that he’s funnier than me or just way more easygoing. Either way, after our first meet up, we immediately embarked on a mission to ruin our friendship by a) writing a screenplay together and b) running the Nike Women’s Marathon. While the screenplay has yet to be finished, we did manage to finish half the marathon without killing each other.

A couple of years ago, Chris met his match in a woman named Leigh. Within six months, they were engaged and, inside of a year, married. It was just that easy. In fact, everything about Chris and Leigh is easy: the way they talk, the way they relate to each other, even the way they order their Mexican food.

Which brings us to Wednesday night in Austin, Texas. Chris and Leigh picked us up at our sweet local hotel, The Austin Motel, and took us to the famous Central Market, which resembles an IKEA, minus the particle board and plus a ridiculous amount of good-for-you food. We picked out a couple of local brews to bring to the Mexican joint where we would be having dinner. I guess everywhere but California is relaxed about the BYOB thing, as I have yet to hear the words “corkage fee.”

The atmosphere at the restaurant, La Cocina de Consuelo, was basically like having a home-cooked meal in an exotic backyard. As we noshed on the best enchiladas I’ve ever had, Chris and Leigh told us about their marriage. Again, I was astonished at just how damn easy they make it all sound. They even work in the same room together every day, albeit facing in opposite directions. When Chris travels for business, he goes to Herculean efforts to make sure he’s back the same night because he hates sleeping without his wife. To be totally honest, if I hadn’t met Chris pre-Leigh, I would have been checking both of their backs for zippers after the first beer. If you don’t get this reference, click here and then chuckle to yourself about how old I am. After that, laugh about how I use words like “chuckle.”

After dinner, Chris and Leigh took us to a one of the coolest bars I’ve ever seen at the Hotel San Jose. We looked a little mismatched with Chris and Leigh in their trendy threads and us in our completely sodden Wedding Road trip gear, but thankfully no one pointed and laughed at us on our way to our table. Over drinks, Chris admitted that it has been a bit hard for him and Leigh to make close friends in Austin, as most people already have their friend groups figured out. This baffles me, as I can’t imagine who wouldn’t want to be friends with these two, but, you know, people suck.

We’ve had a lot of great experiences on this trip, but I have to say, hanging out with Chris and Leigh is near the top of the list. Friends like the Brownes don’t come around too often, and I feel very glad that I took the Craig’s List gamble so many years ago.

P.S. I hear the Air Soft psycho rifle guy is now a father who plays semi-pro football and sleeps on his friends couches instead of paying rent. No wonder California is in debt.

Day 13: Where Ford Art Thou?

After hanging out with Chad and Kristine, Chris and I spent part of the drive to Austin talking about coincidence versus pre-destination. Last night, Chad told us a story of a sequence of events that he believes was too synchronistic to be just a series of coincidences. He maintains that God often makes things happen in his/our lives. My cousin also holds the same belief about several serendipitous occasions in her own journey through life. While I’m not sure where I fall on the pre-destination versus coincidence spectrum, I do believe that things present themselves as needed- sort of a “the universe provides” philosophy.

Case in point… this afternoon, somewhere between Houston and Austin. We had just fattened Roxy up with some much needed gasoline when we noticed her odometer, which was hovering around five thousand miles. Having been raised by a father who spent quite a bit of time educating me on the relative merits of changing the oil in my old Ford Ranger, I told Chris that it was time to find a Ford dealer to grease Roxy up.

Now, keep in mind that we were in the middle of nowhere when the following conversation happened:

Jaime: I think we need to get Roxy’s oil changed. She seems a little thirsty.
Chris: I seriously doubt we’re going to find a Ford dealer anywhere near here. We’d better wait until Austin.
Jaime: I think we’ll find one.

At this point, I put the car in drive, pulled out of the gas station and drove up a nearby hill to find? You guessed it. A Ford dealer, with a Quick Lube station that was completely empty. We were in and out of the dealer in twenty minutes, with Roxy purring happily the rest of the way to Austin.

God or coincidence? You decide.