(taken from Steven’s wedding day speech)
Rachel and I first met in the "awe inspiring" Grand Canyon in 1998. We were complete strangers on a white-water rafting holiday.
It is strange to think what brought us together – it was bad weather and I can honestly say it was that we were both wimps and huddled together under a tarpaulin in the raft because of the cold and rain/spray on a couple of days.
Whilst huddled, we started to chat and I realised that ALL dentists were NOT boring! And they didn’t just talk teeth and gum disease all day.
Anyway on our return from the Grand Canyon, we started to see each other. Logistically, it was a little difficult at first. Rachel lived in Birmingham at that time and I was working in Brussels/Eindhoven during the week and living in Lancashire at the weekend.
But we persevered and both got to know the M6 and M5 intimately (Knutsford, Sandbach, Keele, Hilton Park, Frankley etc…) and as time passed, on the job front, I moved on (was pushed actually, but that’s another story) and Rachel saw sense and moved to up to "God’s own County" and my 48" TV and pool table!
We spent three months sorting our house in Rossendale and then I got a job in Dubai and the rest is very recent history……..
Since we met our lives have been as turbulent as those white water rapids on the Colorado river that runs through the Grand Canyon. Let’s hope we have now reached Lake Mead! That’s the tranquil place at the end, but somehow I doubt it.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to make an "honest dentist", out of Rachel and I’m proud that we have successfully completed that course of treatment today, painlessly.
In fact, I really wanted to present her with a little plaque!! (Get it!)
Extract from the best man’s speech:
"The Proposal made in the first light of the dawn of a new century, indeed millennium was, to say the least, very romantic. How could a girl refuse!"
