It all started on America Online...

Dave: In October of 98 I was stationed at Ft Hood, TX waiting to be released from the Army. I started looking through the AOL online profiles for people (ok, women) in Mobile, AL who listed movies under their interests. I saw Tracy (tbeach222) online and noticed that her personal quote was the same as mine (dance like there's no tomorrow, love like it'll never hurt) and that we both liked reading Laurell K. Hamilton, but by the time I finished reading the profile, she was offline.

Fast forward to January 99. I was in Mobile when Tracy saw me online, liked my profile, and sent an instant message. We started chatting, then talked on the phone, and finally made a date to see a movie (John Travolta in "A Civil Action" at the Carmike 14) on January 10th.

We've been together ever since, and have been living together since September of 1999, prompting her father to ask her when we'd get married. Not satisfied with the answer "soon," he commented that I was apparently on "the eternal test drive" and would just trade her in when I was tired of her. I immediately renamed my website and the following year registered our common web domain, EternalTestDrive.com.

The Proposal:

Right after her birthday, while seeing "Insomnia" (again at the Carmike 14) with several friends, I slipped the following slide into the pre-movie slideshow. The Calagaz tech who made the slide cut off the IM box around it, almost spoiling Randy Hance's excellent graphics work, but the message was still clear:

Tracy: It's a good thing he asked. If Dave hadn't asked me, I was going to wait until the ceremony, and when the minister asked if I would take him as my husband, I was going to look at him & say, "I don't know, he hasn't asked me yet," where he would, of course, drop to one knee and propose. };-)

The Ceremony:

Now, the eternal test drive is over. On Monday, June 10, 2002, our three-year five-month anniversary (the celebration of which our friends love to laugh about), we were married at Memorial Park in Mobile. About 35 friends and family (and recruiters) were there. Accordingly, the website was rechristened TracyAndDave.com.

It was a small wedding. We were married by a Protestant minister who's a pediatric doctor during the day. The minister performs all types of weddings from our University regardless of the religion of either the husband or wife, so that was right up our alley. We all arrived around 6:30-7:00. People from all periods of our lives in Mobile showed up - old friends and new, family, bosses, fellow students, co-workers, recruiters, and even parents of friends. What a turnout! (About 35 people) Good thing we didn't do it at our furniture-less house.

One wonderful thing that happened was that the minister gave us a small glass container with dirt. Dirt, you say?? Yes, dirt - from the park where we were married! He explained it like this. He said, "As your marriage progresses you will go through good times and bad. During the bad times I want you to have this reminder of today to look at so you will remember how you both felt at this moment.... Happy, healthy and so very much in love." It was the best present by far, and brought tears to our eyes. How very thoughtful he was...

And here are our rings! They're titanium, and Tracy's has braided bands of gold and platinum.