On This Day in History . . .

Twenty-five years ago today, two momentous events occurred.  One, I got married!  Two, my team (the Arkansas Razorbacks) finally made it to the Final Four!  Both of these events had been somewhat elusive up until that time.  March madness took on a whole new meaning for my family that day!

When we planned the wedding, obviously the tournament teams and schedules had not been announced.  Our wedding was set for 2 pm in Fayetteville, Arkansas (home of the Razorbacks), and the final game of the Midwest Regional in Dallas was at 3 pm.  To deepen the irony, the Razorbacks were playing their long-time rival, Texas, and I had been living in Texas for the past five years.   Several of my wedding guests were Longhorn Fans.  My wedding singer was offered tickets and a plane ride to the game in Dallas but decided I might never forgive him if he didn't show up to sing.  Thanks, Jeff! 

Needless to say, with the game on TV, I had one of the shortest wedding receptions known to man!  People said hi, got their cake and cleared out.  After all, we would be married day after day for years to come, but the chance to see games like this would be few and far between.  

Fortunately, we thought ahead and scheduled a "reception after the reception" at my parent's house.  We had real snack food (chips and dip, etc) instead of wedding fru-fru, and about thirty out-of-town guests and the wedding party all piled in my parent's den to watch the game.  Arkansas beat Texas 88-85 and was headed to the Final Four! And there was much rejoicing!