Princess Amanda and the Hurricanes
A True Story
Once upon
a time, in the far-away northern kingdom of Lehigh Valley, there lived a
beautiful princess named Amanda. Now Princess Amanda had been searching
throughout the land, near and far, for a handsome prince to become her consort,
and she had been searching for a long time.
Oh, to be sure, she had found several possible suitors, but alas, none
of them would do. Princess Amanda was
beginning to feel that she would never find the perfect beau. She sighed,
“Where, oh where, is my heart-mate? Who
will come along and seek my hand in marriage?
I am not getting any younger…I’m all of 26 years old! Oh, woe is me! I
shall be alone forever!”
But soon
thereafter, Princess Amanda DID find her paramour! She met the handsome Prince John Thomas (who
was known in the kingdom of Lehigh Valley as ‘JT’). At first, she was not at
all sure that Prince JT was “the man”, but as time went by, they fell in love
and finally the day came when they announced to the kingdom that they would be
wed. And all the bells throughout the kingdom rang with the wonderful news.
But as
Princess Amanda was no ordinary princess, nor could her grand wedding be
ordinary, either. The kingdom of Lehigh
Valley was locked away amidst the mountains, and the late King James, Princess
Amanda’s father, and been honored by having his ashes spread over the mighty
ocean, far from the Valley. So Princess Amanda felt very close to her father
when she was on the beach. So it was
determined that the grand wedding of Princess Amanda and Prince JT would take place
on the ocean’s shore.
But not
just any shore, of course. This was to be a special wedding, and so it must be
held in a special place. As Princess Amanda looked at maps of the country, she
discovered the Isle of Captiva, many miles to the south. It was a beautiful little island, right on
the Gulf of Mexico. There the sun was always shining, it was always warm, and
the beaches were wonderful white sugary sand. Yes, this would be a grand place
for the royal wedding.
Plans
began for the wonderful event. Although Princess Amanda lived a long way away
from Captiva, her mother, Queen Jennifer, just happened to live in that very
same area, and so was able to help Princess Amanda with her plans. They chose a
little village near the beach, with rooms for all the royal guests. They chose
a scrumptious wedding feast. And they picked out the flowers and the royal
wedding cake. The date chosen for the
grand event would be September 5th, or the week-end when the entire
country took time off from work to celebrate work. This made sense (somehow),
as now all of Amanda’s royal guests would have the time off to fly south for
the wedding.
But as
all things planned have a way of changing, this would be no exception. What
Princess Amanda did not take into consideration was that in the south, the
season from June through October was known to produce very bad storms called
“hurricanes.” Even the people of the southern kingdoms had grown unafraid,
because there had been no big hurricanes for quite awhile now, so it was no surprise
that the Princess had overlooked the possibility of a storm of this kind
interrupting her plans.
And as
the poet Burns once said, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go
astray,” so too did these wedding plans. With barely a fortnight before the
grand event was to take place, with all of the royal guests booked on flights
to the south, with all of the rooms in the village reserved, along came a
hurricane named Charley, who was definitely not on the guest list. After demolishing a lot of the Caribbean
islands, Charley had turned into the Gulf of Mexico, and all of the forecasters
had foretold that it would hit Tampa. But Charley had different plans, and
turned very sharply at the last minute, smashing directly into Captiva, slicing
the tiny isle in twain, and destroying any plans for the royal wedding.
“Oh, woe
is me,” cried Princess Amanda, “will I never get married? All of my plans are
now washed away by this terrible storm!” But Queen Jennifer comforted her
child. “Now, now, my beautiful Amanda,
the wedding is still two weeks away. And we have very lovely beaches where I
live, so perhaps we can move your wedding to the East Coast, in the big city of
Fort Lauderdale.” And although the princess was at wits end, she told her
mother the queen to see what could be done.
Now,
Queen Jennifer was a very resourceful person. She had been waiting for her
daughter to meet a handsome prince for some time now, and now that a wedding
was eminent, she would see to it that the event would indeed take place. Within
a few days, Queen Jennifer had arranged lodging for the wedding party at a
wonderful palace right on the beach. She had also arranged a banquet in a great
hall, flowers, a wonderful wedding cake, musicians, and a photographer to
record the grand event.
“Oh,
mother, you are so wonderful,” cried the Princess. “How could I have ever known
what to do, being so far away in Lehigh Valley?”
“It was
nothing, my dear,” said the Queen. “I would do anything to make my daughter
happy and to see her marriage to Prince JT succeed. I am still working on the
details, but everything has been arranged for you to get married on the beach
in a beautiful sunset ceremony.”
The
Princess thanked her mother, and continued with her now-altered plans. She
still had to travel to the south to get the necessary papers for her marriage,
so she and Prince JT packed their bags and got ready for the big trip.
Alas,
this was not only hurricane season in the southern lands, but would turn out to
be one of the most terrible hurricane seasons in history. And it was just
starting! As the magical date
approached, so did hurricane Frances. A
week before the wedding, the storm had headed directly for Fort Lauderdale, and
Queen Jennifer began to have doubts as to whether Princess Amanda would get
married this time, either. “I don’t know if it would be wise to travel south
right now,” Queen Jennifer suggested.
But
Princess Amanda would not relent. “There will be a wedding this time, mother,
and no hurricane is going to stop us,” she proclaimed. Unfortunately, she was
very unfamiliar with these storms, and hurricane Frances was about to prove her
very, very wrong!
The
princess and prince arrived a day earlier than planned, four days before the
scheduled wedding, to obtain the official papers needed for the ceremony. That Thursday, they awoke to find that all of
the offices in the kingdom had been closed because of the approaching storm.
But Queen Jennifer’s consort, Prince Gary, quickly took them by coach to
another kingdom nearby whose offices were still open, and hours before they too
closed because of the approaching storm, Princess Amanda and Prince JT had the
necessary documents.
But it
would do the now-unhappy couple no good.
Later that same day, the beach on which the palace stood was evacuated,
and the airport where the royal guests would arrive was closed. Once again,
there would be no royal wedding.
“Boo-hoo!”
cried the princess. “I am beginning to wonder if I was ever meant to marry my
sweet prince! It is unheard of that so many hurricanes would take place so
soon, and right where my wedding is planned!” But Prince JT was unmoved. “We
will get married before we leave the land of Florida. It WILL happen, and I am
sure of it! So do not cry, Princess Amanda. While we are waiting for the right
time and place, let us just go on our planned honeymoon, to the Magic Kingdom
of Disney, far away from these storms. We will relax and enjoy ourselves, and
ponder our next move in peace and quiet.”
And so
the prince and princess, still unwed, packed their bags and took a coach north
to the Magic Kingdom. There they would enjoy some peace and quiet. Or so they
thought.
Queen
Jennifer was now busy contacting all of those who were to have taken part in
the wedding, and thanking them for their hard work, though there would now be
no joyous event. But when she talked to Tricia the Event Planner, at the palace
on the beach, a new plan began to grow. Was it possible for the wedding to take
place the following week-end, after hurricane Frances passed by? Together, the
Queen and Tricia the Planner worked out the details of the new wedding, to take
place, of all dates, on September 11th.
Now
Tricia the Planner had been working on the wedding for 3 weeks, and knew the
entire story of the broken plans of the royal couple-to-be. And her heart was
moved, and she went to her superiors and asked them to help make the wedding a
very special event. And an entirely new wedding ceremony began to grow, one
with a grand ballroom and gourmet dinners and servers, one with more flowers
and a bigger cake, and more musicians. And Princess Amanda and Prince JT would
stay in the biggest and best room in the palace, too – a room normally reserved
for kings and presidents. And the best part was that the palace would provide
all of this as a wonderful gift to the prince and princess! The palace had a
heart bigger than any hurricane, and it showed. Princess Amanda and Prince JT
would have the best wedding ever – the palace would make sure of it!
And
Tricia the Planner also put the amazing story of Princess Amanda and the two
hurricanes out on the palace news wire, and soon reporters throughout the
entire land were asking to interview the Prince and Princess. There was Good
Morning America. And Fox News. And National Public Radio. And the Early Show,
and Channel 7 and the Miami Herald newspaper. Why, even the newspaper in the
Princess’ own kingdom of Lehigh Valley, the Morning Call, wanted to cover the
wedding, and they sent a reporter.
And guess
what happened? The news people found out that the Prince and Princess were
relaxing at the Magic Kingdom, and they all went to find them and interview
them. You know, the paparazzi. There
went peace and quiet. But the now happy couple, who had been told of the new
plans, simply ran away from the paparazzi, as most royal couples do, and
enjoyed the rest of their stay, as they contemplated the happy day to come on
Saturday.
What
happened next is unbelievable, but these are the things that special love
stories are made of. Lo and behold, yet another hurricane, named Ivan, was
making its way west, and all of the weather forecasters could not say which way
Ivan would go. But it was possible that it could also hit the land of Florida
and interrupt the wedding plans. Again!
THREE
HURRICANES? I told you it was unbelievable! And Princess Amanda became somewhat
anxious as she pondered the possibilities of yet another failed wedding. But
Prince JT stood fast, and proclaimed that he was sure that the wedding would
take place this time. Prince Gary, Queen Jennifer’s consort had lived in the
land of Florida his entire life and he too thought that this time, wedding
bells would ring!
And he
was right! On Saturday, September 11th,
as the sun was setting over beautiful Fort Lauderdale beach, Princess Amanda
walked barefoot through the sand, from the palace to a lovely little
chapel-like setting, close to the breaking surf. There was a white archway with
flowers, and chairs and an official of the kingdom who would pronounce the
prince and princess man and wife. Princess Amanda’s sister, Princess Annie was
the matron of honor, and her little son, Prince Aiden, carried the royal
wedding bands. The musicians played guitar and violin, and serenaded the royal
couple. And there wasn’t a dry eye on the beach!
As tiny
sandpipers fluttered overhead, and the waves gently washed up on the shore,
Princess Amanda and Prince JT poured sand from two little bottles into one big
bottle, to signify that the two were becoming one, and that no one could ever
separate the sand in the big bottle to say whose was whose. As the Prince and Princess kissed, an
airplane flew over, pulling a big banner which read, “Congratulations to
Princess Amanda and Prince JT!” and it had a big red heart attached.
And then
they returned to the palace, where they toasted their marriage with lemonade,
for Queen Jennifer had wisely said, “When someone hands you lemons, make
lemonade!” The two hurricanes had handed the wedded couple many lemons, and in
the end they had turned them to lemonade – a more majestic and wonderful and
happy event than was ever originally planned.
The wedding party sat down in the great hall of the palace, and had
salad, and bread, and fine drinks and filet mignon and shrimp. And there was
dancing and toasting, and picture-taking. And there was a beautiful wedding
cake, which was topped by a special setting especially designed and made by
Queen Jennifer herself.
And what
of hurricane Ivan? Well, he decided to
go to the southern islands and on into the Gulf of Mexico, and eventually
visited the people in the lands of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He even
managed to visit parts of northern Florida, and as it turned out, Ivan was the
fourth of five hurricanes to hit the land of Florida that year. To this day,
that time will be remembered as the busiest hurricane season that ever was! But
that is another story.
And
Princess Amanda and Prince JT lived happily ever after, with Prince Anthony,
their son, and little Princess Zoe Jane, their baby daughter. They went back to
the kingdom of Lehigh Valley, where they live to this day. And Queen Jennifer
has the top of the wedding cake in her freezer, and in one year’s time, she
will share it with Princess Amanda and Prince JT on their first anniversary,
and they will all relive that very unusual summer when a royal family from the
north became hurricane experts and had a wedding that they will never, ever
forget!
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The End =-
©Copyright 2004 Itzazu.Com All rights
reserved. This document may not be copied or reproduced in its entirety or in
part without the written permission of Gary Barth and Amanda Loper
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