Once Andy and I moved to Wilmington, we quickly made great friends at work. I worked full-time at Airlink and Vitalink transporting critically ill patients by ground and air from scenes and outlying hospitals to New Hanover Regional Medical Center; a level 2 trauma center. Andy worked full-time at NHREMS doing EMS in New Hanover County based out of NHRMC.
Both of our families lived so far away. All of my family, including my parents, sister and her family, brother, and grandmother lived in New Jersey. Andy parents lived in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and his brother, sister, and their families lived in Florida. Having no family in NC, we quickly created our own in Wilmington. Unfortunately, we were working opposite shifts in the beginning and didn’t get to see much of each other. During this time, we added a member to our household. We adopted a Great Dane named Lizzie from the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue. She quickly became our second fur-baby and Andy’s pride and joy. It took almost a year before we were able to get on the same shift and really start living our lives together.
We got engaged in the summer of 2005. We had just gotten our back yard landscaped. And we were getting ready to leave for Palm Coast, Florida the next morning to visit Andy’s family. Andy had gone out on an errand…I can’t remember what. He was taking a long time. Unbeknownst to me, he was sitting in the Toys-R-Us parking lot. He had bought a huge toy diamond ring and was calling my parents’ house. He has planned to ask me in front of his family, but had decided to do it that night. When he called, my mom answered and said that my dad was on his way home from the Junk Yard and wouldn’t be home for about 30-45 minutes. Of course, my mom knew right away why he wanted to talk to my dad, but didn’t say anything to him. So Andy waited in the parking lot for my dad to call back. When my dad walked in from work, my mom made him call Andy right away. He asked Daddy for his permission to ask me to marry him. He gave his permission (something about being proud to have him as a son-in-law and also being the only one to ask his permission :) ) and Andy headed home.
With beer in hand, he met me in our back yard and we sat and enjoyed the new grass, plants, and patio. We were standing petting Lizzie and he knelt down to pet her head. Lizzie walked away, but Andy stayed on his knee. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a little black box. He asked me to marry him and handed me the box. I started tearing up and opened the box only to find the toy ring. I looked at him and asked “is this a joke?” He said “No, I wanted you to be able to pick out your own ring.” I said “YES!!!” and then quickly added…”if we leave now, we can make it to the mall before it closes.” We bought my ring that night and I wouldn’t even let them size it right away because I wanted to wear it to Florida. It was (and is) so beautiful!
We planned our wedding for April 21, 2006. My partner and best friend, Leslie, helped me plan every detail while at Airlink on night shift. We planned a weekend getaway for our families. Thursday, April 20th was our rehearsal dinner at Bluewater in Wrightsville Beach on the Intracoastal Waterway. It was a beautiful view and an awesome dinner with family and friends. Andy slept at the house with his brother and Dave Alman. I stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Wrightsville Beach with Leslie and Breony in the honeymoon suite. My whole family stayed in the hotel. Our wedding was April 21st at the Scott’s Hill Marina in Pender County on the Intracoastal Waterway. It was a beautiful, short, and sweet ceremony on the deck of the marina and the reception was held inside with a breath-taking view of the water. Aside from the fact that my limo broke down on the way to the ceremony (I arrived at my wedding in a Hyundai!), the entire day was perfect! April 21, 2006…the day I became Mrs. Andrew E. Wright. Could life get any better? I had no idea how much better…
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