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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1988)
My first honeymoon Even though I may never have my own honeymoon, at least I can say I’ve been on one. Last May, just after school was out for summer, two of my good friends, Mimi and Mike, got married. The wedding was in Corpus Christi, two and a half hours from my hometown of Harlingen. The entire weekend of parties, the wedding and the reception was wonderful. After the reception, the bride and bridegroom joined some of the guests to celebrate in the bar of the hotel where out-of-town guests were staying. Mimi and Mike were staying their first night in the same hotel. The official honeymoon wasn’t beginning until they left town early the next morning. The newlyweds partied with us in the bar until 3 a.m. Because Mimi had to begin summer school the next week, the honeymoon consisted of driving to South Padre Island, staying for about three days and driving to Mexico for the day to shop. Harlingen is 30 minutes from both South Padre and Mexico. There is a 15-minute drive between South Padre and Mexico. Before leaving Corpus Christi, Mimi kept saying that she was going to call me while she and Mike were at South Padre. They wanted me to go to Mexico with them. I knew I’d never hear from them and that was fine. Who has time for friends while on their honeymoon? A few days later, I was back in Harlingen. Early the next morning, my mother said that Mimi and Mike had called and were on their way to pick me up. Minutes later, I was on the road to Matamoros, Mexico with the newlyweds. Of course we had to stop at the store for beer (at 10 a.m.) for that 30-minute road trip ahead. Just after driving across the border, we somehow picked up our own personal tour guide. He was very helpful in finding us a nice, guarded parking space close to the market. Our guide was helpful in finding us some cold Mexican beer wherever we were in the market. We really enjoyed the looks on the faces of the Mexican merchants when we told them “we” were on “our” honeymoon. Most of them thought it was great. I’m not sure how seriously they took it Page 2/At Ease/Thursday, April 7, Close to lunchtime, we headed for a popular tourist restaurant and bar. We were not ready to call it quits. This is about the time we lost our tour guide. At the restaurant, there were mariachis and tourists who happily celebrated with “the three honeymooners. ” We ate and we drank even more. We danced and we sang, too. Somehow we managed to start a huge, long dance train made up of people scooting through the bar. A cartoonist sketched the three of us together and titled it “The Honeymooners.” When the sparks died down at that bar, it was time for more fun elsewhere. Next, we went to a college kids’ hot spot. There was more food, more drink and more people. This is where my mind gets a little foggy. But I know how the story ends. After Mimi woke me up from my little nap I took on the table in the bar and got Mike on his feet, too, she drove us home. By then it was 6 p.m. The next thing I remember was waking up in a bed, in a night gown and in a hotel room. In the bed next to me was Mimi watching TV and Mike next to her, still passed out. 1988 Mimi had called my mom and said that we were all too tired to drive home, but they’d bring me home in the morning on their way out of town. I felt terrible. I did not want to spend the night with the honeymooners, especially on their last night. I offered to take aa cab back to Harlingen or get another room. Mimi wouldn’t agree. Looking at Mike, she assured me that it was no big deal. The next morning “the honeymooners,” all three of us, had breakfast together. We laughed about the night before and tried to piece it all together. We had a great time and I love to tell everyone about my first honeymoon. This week’s attention column was written by Jeanne Ferris is a senior journalism major. Editor’s Note: This attention!! page will be used each week as a forum for you, our readers. We encourage you to submit any original work that would be suitable for publication in At Ease. Opinions expressed on the attention!! page are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Battalion, Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents. Pictures for the attention!! page should be black-and-white shots that are unique either in content, angle or technique. Columns, essays or poems should be no longer than 500 words and should be either printed or typed. Don’t forget to put your name and phone number on anything you send us. Then just drop it off at The Battalion, Room 216 of the Reed McDonald Building. Be sure to specify that it is for At £asa