A Visit

We decided that if Laura was going to come live in London after we got married, she should come visit beforehand to get a feel for it. Also, if she could survive London in the middle of winter, then she would probably be okay. We planned a five-week visit for February and part of March.

I found a place for Laura to stay with a family south of the river in Clapham Junction. As with every city, there are certain places in London that had a negative stigma attached to them. I felt that way about south of the river. There had been volatility and violence over the years and it had left its aura. Clapham was one of those places but the house was not too far from the tube station and it seemed safe enough. We wouldn’t be spending much time there anyway.

Laura had a friend named Cherilyn from New Zealand living in London who used to be on the ship. She was working as a live-in nanny for an American family. Laura had some contact info. and wanted me to try find her so she could see her when she came. I did find her but didn’t tell Laura.

I think the best way to get over jet lag is to just stay up and go to bed when it’s time in the place you travel to. When Laura arrived, I kept her up. I took her to The Chicago Pizza Pie Factory for dinner to introduce my cute American fiance to everyone. She was asking me if I had been able to find Cherilyn and we surprised her by having her at the restaurant when we got there.

They spent a lot of time together during Laura’s time in London. As she had plenty of free time, Laura would go over to Cherilyn’s to hang out and watch the kids while I was working. We went to a lot of restaurants and movies together. Although London has had a reputation for bad weather, it only rained one day the whole five weeks she was there.

I had an aversion to being what I call a cutesy couple. I also didn’t want to make other people feel excluded, especially Cherilyn. So when we all rode the Tube together, I usually had Cherilyn sit between us so that she didn’t feel like she was an outsider.

While Laura was staying south of the river, I was still in my room up in northern London. After spending time together, I would take her home which involved taking the Tube across the river then catching a bus to Clapham Junction. The place you caught the bus was a bit desolate, especially at night. After getting her home I would then travel back to my place.  

One night it was very late and the Tube was going to close for the night. I would have to take the night bus back which takes MUCH longer. We had gotten to the place for her to catch the bus and if I had taken her all the way home, I would have missed the last Tube. So I decided to just get her on the bus to Clapham and then catch the Tube home. It was the wrong decision. Laura was scared. When she got to her bus stop, she ran the rest of the way home. 

Once again, I had left her in a vulnerable moment. Fortunately nothing happened but it goes down as one of my life’s dumber decisions. Unfortunately, it would not be the last time.

For the last week of her visit, we went over to Amsterdam to visit friends before Laura went back to the US. Laura’s sister, Carolyn had also got engaged by this time. If we both got married in California, the weddings would have been much the same, with many of the same guests for both girls. Their parents tried to pay us to have a double wedding. Carolyn was into it but the rest of us, not so much.

Instead, Laura came up with the idea of having our wedding on the Anastasis. On May 6th, the ship was going to be in the small North Carolina town of Morehead City. Laura’s one stipulation was that she would only do it if her whole family were able to come from California. They decided that they would all rent a big beach house together.

We were going to be married in a church and have the reception on the ship so we had to find the church. It would have to be reserved well in advance. They found a creative solution. Carolyn’s fiance, Chuck had a grandma who lived about three hours from Morehead City in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She offered to go to Morehead City, look at churches and give us her recommendation. She found First Presbyterian, a nice, modern, brick building with a big pipe organ and stained glass windows. She said that if she had a daughter in the same situation, she would choose that one. It was available and they booked it.

When the Anastasis was going to a port, they would always send a team a few months ahead of time to get everything ready for the visit. Lo and behold, the team they chose for Morehead City was none other than Laura’s best friend and her husband. Laura could go ahead of time and stay with them while she got everything ready for the wedding. 



Canal boat in Amsterdam


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