Thoughts of the Lady in the Tower

2004-02-01 - 4:39 p.m.

They just ran a commercial on tv encouraging people to help protect historic sites. While I'm all for it, I did find it awfully amusing.

They used a hypothetical situation, telling your kids where you got married ("Right there, by the unleaded"). During our Christmas visit to Orlando, FL, this year my parents had the opportunity to point out where they got married, and the scene was remarkably like the commercial.

However, no one would suggest that the actual BUILDING that they got married in has historical value, and that was the image that had me cracking up.

Meet my parents. Young (Mom was about to turn 19, and Dad about to turn 21), away from home (Mom's from Harrisburg, PA, and Dad's from Oregon), in the Navy (Mom was a drill instructor, Dad doing pre-EOD instruction), and in a bar.

So, they meet in a bar in Orlando, Florida. And two weeks later they get married. It was fast, so Mom found the 'chapel' in the phonebook.

Yes, my parents got married at the "Say 'I Do' Chapel of Love". Turns out it was in a strip mall. And it's the late 70's, so you can imagine the pictures.

Um, let's not.

I was born a year and a half later, and my sister 22 months after that. And if you're wondering, they're still together.

I guess that's the real monument to the "Say 'I Do' Chapel of Love". And perhaps we're better off without the actual building.