Ooo Rah!-Story of a Marine Corps Wedding
by Meg Tyson
I only cried once on my wedding day. Once.
I was sitting in the back of an old-school trolley in front of the Newport Naval Station chapel with some of my best friends, just waiting. We had gone through the whole getting ready phase, the “she’s putting on the dress” moment and although my friends had been in tears several times, they were waiting for me to crack.
They starting singing “Chapel of Love” in the trolley on our way there, so why they thought I would be in tears, I will just never know.
At that point, I had been dating my future husband for almost four years. I was “that girl” who sent him letters every day while he was going through Officer Candidate School (OCS) and tried to encourage him through the endeavors he and his friends faced at The Basic School (TBS). I had always felt like I was going through it with him, even though I wasn’t physically there.
Since the day he started OCS, I felt like I was preparing for military life. Preparing for the separation, the optimism for what’s to come and the unexpectedness of it all. However, sitting on that trolley with the friends I had grown up with since first grade, the pride I felt for him had never been as strong as that moment.
It took a lot for us to get to that point. After a summer proposal and a tearful goodbye only a few months earlier, he left for Pensacola, Fla., to start training. I continued the dream opportunity I had to work at the Department of Defense where I had worked for a little over a year. I battled with the decision to stay or go. I was surrounded by supportive service members in my office who had a plethora of experience and advice that eventually made me realize the preciousness of time and how it’s not something that we can get back.
Next thing I knew, I was moving to Pensacola, starting a new job and the engagement that we thought would be two years ended up being a little over five months. I read a few books and figured anything else I needed to know about military life, I’d learn while living it. That’s how I ended up in a trolley, on New Year’s Eve in the white dress.
While my friends made some witty quips and laughed, I looked out the trolley window and was stunned. No one was outside except for six Marines in formation slowly walking down the sidewalk. I realized they were practicing for the sword arch. The lights bounced of their dress blues as they walked, turned and lifted up their swords. Speechless, I looked out at our friends in their uniforms and realized that this moment was so much bigger than me.
As tears rolled down my face, it was time to walk in and marry the boy I met, who was now a Marine.
Whatever lessons I was about to learn about military life, no matter the obstacles, I was ready.
After the ceremony, and with a big swat on the behind from a stainless steel Marine Corps sword, protected only by the white fabric of my dress, I smiled at my husband. This was going to be a wild ride.
“Welcome to the Marine Corps Ma’am! Ooo Rah.”