text: I have to preface this story with some background to set the stage a bit. My husband and I were both in college; he was in his senior year in New Jersey and I was in my freshman year in upstate New York. We decided to get married and planned to elope; however one of his aunts caught us as we were going to get our marriage license. He couldn’t lie to his favorite aunt and off she marched us to his parents who said they would give us a wedding in three weeks if we wouldn’t elope. My parents, on the other hand were very upset that I had quit college and were refusing to have anything to do with a wedding. I’m not quite sure how it happened but the next thing I knew, my future in-laws, fiancée and I were driving 160 miles north to meet my parents.
  My mother-in-law tells the story of going to buy my wedding dress. My dad came along with my mom, mother-in-law and me to the local mall to shop for a wedding dress. Dad, a quadriplegic, was sitting in his wheelchair outside the dressing room, voicing his opinion as I tried on each dress. When I came out in “the” dress, my mother-in-law said he had the brightest smile and said “that’s the one”. She remembers that I immediately agreed, although she could tell that I wasn’t quite sure. (She was right as I thought the dress was a tad too short.) She thought I said yes to make him happy as she knew I adored my dad. And she was right about that as well.