Bridesmaids, a comedy staring Kristin Wiig, was a surprisingly hilarious movie. (Completely not what I expected after watching the trailers.) It follows Annie, the best friend and Maid of Honor, who is trying to hold the pieces of her life together and keep the Bride happy, but everything seems to fall apart. She gets kicked out of her terrible apartment, is pulled over by a cute and quirky cop to fix her tail lights, can't seem to lock down a man in her life and even manages to split up her solid friendship with the Bride over jealousy issues with a fellow Bridesmaid. Despite a food poisoning mishap and being kicked off of a plane bound for Vegas, Annie salvages her friendship with the Bride and makes it to the wedding. Now, this blog is not meant to be a movie review; however, I would like to say that Annie had it easy - way easy. Please, let me explain...I had the privilege of holding the Maid of Honor title, otherwise known as the MOH, last summer when I watched my best friend, Kait, get married in gorgeous Montana. It was a wedding I'd been looking forward to since they announced their engagement a few years prior, but it didn't turn out the way I had pictured it. In fact, absolutely no one expected the events that occurred that Fourth of July weekend - especially the Bride and Groom.
Kait was the epitome of the three 'C's: calm, cool and collected. She had everything planned down to the very last detail. The wedding theme was kept simple and beautiful. The wooden benches were handmade by her dad, the wedding cake table was complemented by two wooden decorative vases and the band was on its way. I helped the Bride and MOB (Mother of the Bride) apply stickers to name cards indicating which guest received which plate of food. Everything was ready to go. Mike, the Groom, was at his bachelor party: a weekend camping trip with three of his Groomsmen. The Bride's family and I were relaxing at the house after a long day of wedding prep when the Groom's father showed up unexpectedly.
I was upstairs talking on the phone to my parents who were en route to Montana. They had stopped in Twin Falls, Idaho for the night. I came down the steps to see what was going on in the kitchen when I saw Kait and the Groom's father, Buck, speaking. I didn't want to interrupt, but it sounded serious.
"Mike had an accident," said the Groom's father. Kait seemed to take the news lightly. Mike had a small accident, but he'll be alright. Maybe the boys would be coming home soon so he could get better or rest up before the wedding. Buck continued to explain what had happened - this was no minor accident. We didn't know all the details, but we knew that a stick had gone through Mike's leg. His Best Man, Kaelen, had left Mike and the remaining Groomsmen shortly after the accident, which happened around 5 in the afternoon, and ran the six hour hike in the boys had taken earlier that day. Kaelen showed up at Mike's family's cabin out of breath, but calm. He explained the situation and Buck headed straight to the Bride (about a 20 minute's drive from the cabin).
Kait's face dropped. After realizing the gravity of the situation she ran up the stairs and I followed. We threw on some warm clothes and left with Buck to meet at the trail head of the route the boys took that day. The Search and Rescue team was called in. Ironically, two members of the Search and Rescue team were the caretakers of the property Kait was getting married on. We interacted with the pair daily as we worked around the house to get it ready for the weekend. Kaelen debriefed Search and Rescue and then left with them to go get Mike around 12 AM. We decided to wait in the car at the trail head. It was freezing outside, so Buck kept the car on. Occasionally we would get updates as to where Search and Rescue was with the help of the local police officer that was also waiting. A helicopter flew over head looking for the stranded boys and dropped a kit, but it was not found. Mike later told us that he thought the helicopter was there to get him out, and was greatly disappointed when he realized that was not going to happen.
I was falling asleep off and on in the car. When I was awake I would say a prayer for Mike, his friends and Search and Rescue, and then eventually fall back asleep. We got word shortly after 6 AM that Search and Rescue had made it to Mike, but problems arose. They could not get Mike on the wheeling cart they had brought along due to their position on the mountain. They also could not give him medication to help with the excruciating pain he was experiencing. Once we realized Mike would not be rescued on foot, we drove into town to wait by the runway along the highway. The only way to get to Mike now was by helicopter. The date was Friday, July 2 - two days before the wedding.
Buck left us at a nature center directly across the street from the runway while he got us breakfast. We took turns letting Kait know that Mike would be OK. Even though it was cold up in the mountains, he had his friends. He was being taken care of. Kait would often say, "I don't care about the wedding now. I just want Mike to be OK." As much as I agreed with her, that Mike's safety was number one, I told her that I was still going to assume my duties as MOHand plan on a wedding in two days. Seconds of waiting turned to minutes of waiting, and minutes of waiting turned into hours of waiting. At first, the helicopter sent to extract Mike from the forest was unable to get low enough because of the fog, but time passed and the sun came out. God allowed the fog to part and a window was open. They airlifted Mike in the early afternoon and we watched the helicopter descend on the runway. He was immediately transferred to ambulance bound for Missoula, a little over an hour drive from where we were. Kait and I piled into her Matrix and sped off towards the hospital.
The Condon: Swan Valley ambulance that transported Mike from Seeley to Missoula (over an hour's drive).
We beat Mike to the hospital and sat in the Emergency Room's waiting room. We made sure the receptionist knew that as soon as Mike made it in the room they would let us know. Kait and I waited and waited. About a half hour later Mike landed and we were in the room soon after. Kait ran to the bed that Mike was being situated into. It was a very sweet moment for them. Mike was so relieved to see his Bride. He was wearing sweat pants one of his Groomsmen lent him to keep warm. The pants were cut up the leg and I saw the soon-to-be infamous stick. A sleeping pad was lodged between Mike's legs that the nurses had to slowly remove. Following are some shots I took while in the Emergency Room.
Kait and Mike seeing each other for the first time in the E.R. We were later joined by Mike's parents. Buck could not look at the leg so a towel was held up so Mike's mom and I could snap some pictures.
Kait held up the towel so Mike's mom could take pictures while Buck looks away.
In sickness and in health. In good times and in bad...
Side view. As you can see, the stick never made it out the other side - it was poking the side of his leg. Very painful! The stick actually broke in two in his leg so the surgeon had to extract the stick from both the front and back of the leg.
Here's a front view of his leg. When Mike fell he landed on top of this small limb attached to a tree. His fall broke the stick and voila - Mike on a stick!
Mike went into surgery that Friday afternoon. God allowed for a speedy recovery and Mike made it to his own wedding, but he had to sit through the service. It was a beautiful ceremony that I will never forget. There was a small rain cloud passing over (they say it's good luck if it rains on your special day). The Bride and Groom read their vows they had written to each other, which brought me, and almost everyone else, to tears. It was the perfect wedding, better than any of us (or any movie director) could have planned - even the Bride.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
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