Deployment meant tying knot on a memorable day
By Tanya Bricking Leach
Advertiser Staff Writer
Simply dating, for Nanci Morrison and Colin Gandy, has mostly been a matter of logistics.
So
Photo courtesy of Colin Gandy
no one was too surprised when they announced that their wedding date would be Sept. 11.
Colin Gandy, who has been stationed in South Korea, is about to be deployed to Iraq. And his bride, Nanci Morrison, has stateside military duties. Without too many options, the couple decided to marry on Sept. 11, and make it a celebration of life as they look ahead to a future together.
Somehow, it fit when the patriotic couple asked close family and friends to join them yesterday for a beach wedding and a celebration of life, and a reception back at Gandy's parents' house in Kailua.
He and Morrison met in college at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks during a 5 a.m. ROTC six-mile loop run. Nobody appeared to be smiling that morning. But later at a friend's barbecue, the two got re-acquainted and hit it off in a way that helped them decide that they wanted to be together, even if their military service took them apart.
The decision stuck, even when Gandy left Alaska for South Korea and their courtship became one of e-mails, phone calls and infrequent visits.
And it held even when Gandy volunteered for a year in Iraq while his girlfriend was stationed on the Mainland.
As Gandy watched unit after unit being called up for duty in the Middle East and Afghanistan, he noticed the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, an Army Reserve infantry unit out of Fort Shafter, going to Iraq early next year.
When he was a child, Gandy's dad, Ray Gandy of Kailua, had been a battalion commander with the 100th Battalion. It was his dad's service with the Army Reserves that had influenced Colin Gandy to join the ROTC at Punahou. So following in his dad's footsteps, he volunteered to switch assignments and join the 100th Battalion.
If all goes as planned, Gandy, a 1999 Punahou grad, will spend 2005 serving in Iraq.
But first, he married the love of his life yesterday in a ceremony they hoped would turn sad memories of the 2001 attacks into a joyous occasion.
Plus, he said, "It will make my anniversary easy to remember."
(That must be the odd sense of humor he was saying he shared with his bride.)
It so happened that they decided to tie the knot on Sept. 11 because they knew the second weekend in September was when Gandy could get leave from South Korea, Morrison could take time off from Fort Gordon, Ga., and her mother, brother and best friend could arrange to come to Hawai'i for the wedding.
They looked at the calendar, realized the second Saturday was Sept. 11, and didn't flinch.
"I figured it was par for the course," Morrison said.
She has been the kind of bride who hasn't let the stress faze her. She goes with the flow, takes long walks on the beach with Gandy's mother and looks at this as a step closer to being reunited with her husband.
"I'm impressed with both of them," said her new mother-in-law, Alida Gandy. "They were planning a spring wedding, but they decided to seize the moment."
On Wednesday, Gandy will head back to Seoul, and his bride will return to Georgia. They may see each other for the holidays before Gandy deploys, if the logistics all work out.
Gandy has decided this is the way it's supposed to be. If it had happened any other way, he said, it might not have worked out.
"We just consider each other pretty lucky to have found each other," he said. "We can actually do the serious, long-term planning now."
They've looked ahead on the calendar to February 2006, when Gandy should be back from Iraq, and then they expect to start their life together as newlyweds.
Tanya Bricking Leach writes about relationships. If you'd like her to tell your love story, write to tleach@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 525-8026 or mail your photo and details to Love Stories, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802.
