The Vow: The True Events That Inspired the Movie (11 page)

Clowning around trying to get reacquainted, February 1994.

Hiking the summer after the accident. Behind the smiles, our relationship was coming apart. Divorce was never an option, but there were times we thought we could never live together again under the same roof.

Krickitt and her family at the North Eastern Regional Hospital rehab center where she worked before the accident, back on the job in the summer of ’94. That’s Gretchen, Grace, and Jamey up front, with her parents and me in back.

Building new memories.

Getting to know each other again while visiting Krickitt’s parents in Phoenix.

Our second wedding ceremony, May 25, 1996, at a remote mountain chapel in New Mexico. It didn’t even have electricity, but the view was awesome.

We had agreed to use our original wedding rings in the second ceremony. But each of us secretly bought a second ring for the other, so we had four rings to juggle.

The second wedding party, facing a throng of reporters and photographers from the London
Times, Inside Edition, People
magazine,
Day and Date,
and other media. For keeping our original wedding vows, we’d become celebrities.

At the reception after the second ceremony, three key players in our story: Scott Madsen, Krickitt’s physical therapist; Marcy Madsen, recreational therapist; and Bob Grothe, flight nurse.

Krickitt’s dad, Gus Pappas, with DJ Coombs, the EMT who overcame her own claustrophobia to climb into our wrecked car and treat Krickitt while she was still trapped inside.

Our second honeymoon in Maui.

In Maui our second time around, strangers recognized us on the street, and a California radio station woke us up at 4:00 A.M. for a live interview.

Backstage in New York with Krickitt’s parents and Maury Povich.