One of the things that Randy really wanted was a honeymoon since he didn't get one in his previous marriage. This was something that he desperately wanted. There were a few ideas on the table and ultimately, we chose to go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Randy had never been to Tennessee and I wanted him to see the beauty in this city.
We departed for our honeymoon on April 29, 2019. We wanted a day to relax after our wedding. We knew that our wedding day would be long and exhausting so we planned to take a day to just relax and be newlyweds.
We took off in the morning. I drove and he slept for most of our journey. When we got close and I saw the mountains, I woke him up. He was astounded by the sight of the mountains. It was stunning.
We arrived sooner than we thought we would so we needed to kill some time before we could check in at Laurel Crest. We decided to walk around downtown Gatlinburg.
We checked out some shops and purchased a few items.
We stopped and had some ice cream before we went to our resort.
Randy stayed in the car and took a little bit of a nap while I went to check in. I swear that check in took at least a half hour.
We got to our room and I did my usual bed bug check while Randy chuckled at it. He knew I always did this but found amusement in it. I am terrified of them. Once I cleared the room, I pushed him on the bed and started kissing him. I enjoyed being married to him and no longer restricting ourselves. We made love and then he wanted to take a nap. There was a knock that the door so I went to answer it. The hotel had sent a bottle of Sparkling Rose for us with balloons and a congratulations card that the staff signed. It was a lovely gesture. We appreciated it.
When Randy woke up, we ordered some dinner from DoorDash and we cuddled up on the couch, watching something on lifetime. I started kissing my husband- JUST kissing him and at some point, I noticed that there was an old man, on his balcony watching us. His wife was watching him, watch us. We were super creeped out!! Fortunately for us, our dinner arrived. We closed the shades, had dinner and eventually went to bed.
The next morning, we decided that we would check out the Titanic museum but first, we went to breakfast at Shoney's! Randy had never been to or heard of Shoney's and he needed to experience it. He really enjoyed their breakfast! After breakfast, we headed off to the Titanic museum and this is one that I have been to before but it never gets old. Randy had never been and he LOVED it! He was fascinated! We took it slow and he took time to sit and breathe. It didn't take much to wear him out at this point. He had the 7th of 8 chemo treatments before our wedding and his last one would be after our honeymoon. We were there for a couple of hours. We were really taking it all in! They give you a card at the beginning of a person that was on the ship and at the end, you get to find out if your person lived or if they died. Randy's person did not survive. He was disappointed but I reminded him that not many men survived because it was "women and children first".
On the way back to the resort, Randy inquired about our swimwear and if I had packed them. I did not. At no point did I think about us potentially swimming. Randy said he wanted to go swimming so we stopped at a local shop to check out some swimwear. Obviously, they were not going to have the type of swimsuit that I wear. I told Randy that he needed to decide how much of his wife he would be sharing with the world. I typically wear the very modest swim dresses and this shop had bikinis. We decided to get me a pair of swim trunks and I would wear a shirt. At this same shop, we found our shirts that we frequently wore. His shirt says "I love my crazy wife" and my shirt says "I love my crazy husband".
Spoiler Alert- we never went swimming.
We went back to our resort and Randy asked if he could take a nap. That was fine with me. I laid down with him. When he woke up, he decided to make a move on me. Everything was fine until I noticed that the curtains were open and the creepy dude was looking at us..AGAIN! I got up and shut the curtains and resumed my time with Randy. Afterwards, Randy was hungry so we went back into town. Randy and I went to Fannie Farkles where they have the best corn dogs. Randy wasn't super impressed. He would even peel off some of the breading and feed the starving pigeons. He was being so friendly with them and some of them came right up beside him. It was pretty amazing!
When we went back to the resort, we decided to get into our jacuzzi. Randy got in first and then I followed and leaned on him. I really loved snuggling up to him. We had turned off the lights so it was a very relaxing and intimate time with him.
The next morning was our last day in Gatlinburg. We attended a timeshare seminar that we received $175 for. We obviously did not buy anything. We then went and had lunch. Originally, our plan was to go to Parrot Mountain and play with some exotic birds but Randy was no longer feeling up to it. After lunch, we headed home.
I look back on this day and feel like an idiot. Randy was outside in 80 degree weather and shivering. He had turned the heat on in the car to 84 degrees and he was still shivering. It wasn't until we got home that I realized something was wrong. Randy was under his very heavy winter blanket and our comforter and still shivering. I took his temperature which was at 102. I called his doctor who told me to take him to the ER. We laughed that the day we get back from the honeymoon, he's in the hospital. We also said that at least he wasn't in the hospital on our honeymoon!
Regardless of the complications we had in and around our honeymoon, we both enjoyed it. We had some very hilarious moments that I won't forget. I'm grateful that we got to go on a honeymoon and that he got what he wanted. He got the wedding he wanted and he got a honeymoon that he wanted.
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