Mat O’Donnell and Carolyn Langlois
Life is ultimately about the stories we make. Currently I’m on a plane heading back to Omaha from the wedding reception of a good friend. Originally I thought that I would not be writing this one up, but last night I realized it that it is the real life stories we make that are most worth sharing.
My friend, Mat O’Donnell, has been mentioned in this blog before under the guise of Arizona Mat for my faux adventure series, The Arizona Chronicles, but let me tell you a bit about the real Mat.
I’ve known Mat for nearly 18 years when a mutual friend introduced us a few weeks after I graduated from college. Mat and I struck up an instant rapport as we had a number of similar interests. He also shares my somewhat off kilter sense of humor. Over the past two decades, Mat has become one of my closest friends. We’ve shared a lot of happy times, a lot of fun times, and some heavy times as well. He’s my most frequent traveling companion as we have gone all over the globe from Las Vegas to Tokyo. One would be lucky to have a friend even half as loyal as Mat.
About 5 years ago, a promotion took Mat to Phoenix, AZ. That one choice brought a plethora of good things for Mat including a wonderful woman named Carolyn Langlois.
I still remember the night that Mat told me about Carolyn. I was in Abilene, KS reviewing Abilene’s Victorian Inn when I decided to FB chat Mat since I hadn’t spoken to him in a little spell. We were talking about a mystery/puzzle game we both were playing and then he said he hadn’t been able to finish it as he’d been a little busy lately and then he posted a picture of himself and Carolyn.
I was beyond excited for Mat as he had long deserved some happiness of this type. Giddily, I asked him about the whole story. Who was she? How did you meet? Etc. Etc. I could hear the glee in his voice as he shared his tale of how the two of them met.
About six months later, I finally got to meet Carolyn and I knew that Mat had found his soulmate. In less than ten minutes I realized that Mat had found someone that completed him in every way, shape, and form. Over the next year, their deep love grew only deeper and suddenly a wedding was upon us.
Now Mat and Carolyn actually married on October 26 which was the anniversary of their first date. But the reception was held on November 5 at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix.
On November 3, I found myself heading to Eppley Airfield for a non-stop flight to Phoenix. Now I’ve enjoyed an unusually long streak of successful or even more than successful flights so I was long overdue for a bit of difficulty. Just before I reached the airport, I felt my phone vibrate and found that my flight was delayed for nearly an hour and a half.
Not too terrible and I had a novel with which to occupy myself. Then just before boarding would begin for the delayed flight, a Southwest employee changed the 8 to a 9. Another hour delay. Then they announced that the delays were due to runways at Sky Harbor International being shut down due to construction and a ripping thunderstorm over Phoenix which was preventing any and all flights from landing.
Finally at 9pm, we finally boarded the plane. I was grateful for the gain of 2 hours as it was only about 10pm local time when I arrived in Phoenix.
I called the Crowne Plaza which would be my temporary home and they said they get a shuttle to me in just a few minutes. Their word was good as gold as a shuttle pulled up to the pickup curb within ten minutes and whisked me a mile down the road.
While I prefer B & Bs, I do admit that I had long wanted to stay at a Crowne Plaza. This particular hotel had recently undergone a multimillion dollar renovation and looked brand new. As I checked in I was ecstatic that my standby for an upper level floor had been approved.
This hotel took its security very seriously as you couldn’t even use the elevator without a room key. I zipped up to the 8th floor and found myself with a comfortable king sized bed, a spectacular view of downtown Phoenix, and a nice office area. I also found myself with a door that didn’t latch too well unless you slammed it. After beating my door in a wrestling match, I closed the thick drapes and crawled into bed for the evening.
I awoke the next morning and headed down to the gym for a workout. The gym was not too bad with free weights, balance balls, treadmills, and elliptical. I exercised for 40 minutes then returned to my room for a hot bath with a less than cooperative drain before spending the morning thumbing through my novel or finding something interesting on TV.
Around noon, Mat and Carolyn came to pick me up for lunch and we caught up on the goings-on of our lives since we last met. We ate at Four Peaks Brewing Company where I enjoyed an Oatmeal Stout and a Mexican chicken wrap. Carolyn had chicken rolls and Mat noshed on chicken wings.
During lunch, Carolyn suddenly got an “I’ve got a great idea!” look on her face. It turns out that an old friend of her mother wanted to throw a dinner party for Mat and Carolyn. One of the guests was going to be unable to attend so Carolyn suggested that I take that person’s place. Mat and I both thought that was a great idea so we drove back to the Crowne Plaza where I grabbed my dress clothes and we returned to Mat’s house.
I spent the afternoon helping Carolyn tie jellybean bags for the reception and catching up on things with Barry, Mat’s father, and John Velasquez, an old friend of the O’Donnell family.
Around 5pm, we piled in Carolyn’s vehicle and drove deep into Scottsdale to the home of the Haggertys where the dinner would be held. I met Carolyn’s father, Joe, who was a hoot and his girlfriend, Fran, who was a delightful conversationalist. I also met the Haggertys and a number of other of Carolyn’s relatives who were truly wonderful people.
The home was gorgeous with a beautiful fire pit, an impressive infinity pool, fine works of art, and quartz rocks peppering the abode. The event began with conversation, cocktails, and light hors d’oeuvres of prawns, cheese, and crackers. We enjoyed a fantastic sunset as the sun dropped below the horizon backlighting the Black Mountain. As the stars and planets became visible, we headed inside for the dinner.
Dinner began with a terrific salad which was followed by roasted carrots, chilled pea salad, and a main entrée of chicken and mushrooms. For dessert there was an absolutely delectable mint chocolate ice cream cake. After that, there was more conversation before we broke up for the evening. Joe and Fran were gracious enough to give me a lift back to my hotel where we chatted and listened to opera music on the long drive.
The next morning I decided to give the hotel restaurant, The Post, a try. The prices were about what I expected for a hotel and the food wasn’t too bad. I had orange juice with Eggs Benedict which I spiced up with the hotel’s homemade salsa (which was excellent) and a splash of Tabasco.
Around noon, I was joined by David Sundberg, another long time friend of both Mat and myself. Dave was planning on turning the reception into a week’s vacation so he had rented a Mustang for himself. And this puppy had some serious horsepower and Dave REALLY likes horsepower.
Dave and his Mustang
Dave was starving so we found a nearby In N Out Burger where we munched on cheeseburgers done animal style and with animal fries. Afterwards, we drove around a bit and found a flea market which brought Dave a lot of joy as he likes looking for hidden treasures. And I’ll be dipped if he didn’t find some Viking horn glasses which he turned into a wedding present for Mat and Carolyn.
From there we drove to Dave’s hotel to pick up his dress shirt and killed a few hours at Castles N Coasters. I won a large amount of redemption tickets, bested Dave in Mario Kart, and made a stupid mistake which permitted Dave to top me in Connect Four. Dave and I donated the remnants of our game cards to a group of kids, then drove to my hotel to change into our nicer duds before we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens for the reception.
I’d like to visit the Gardens again when there’s more time as it was absolutely stunning and a very popular place for receptions as 4 were being held there that evening.
It was a truly magical night. Carolyn looked resplendent in her wedding dress and Mat was quite dapper in his tuxedo. The bride and groom shared some touching words about why they were spending the rest of their lives together. Then toasts from the audience were opened up and I even offered one of my own, the bulk of which you actually read in my opening paragraphs. After that it was a dinner of salad with a chipotle dressing, mixed vegetables, spinach stuffed chicken breast, risotto cakes, and a beef cutlet. Then came conversation, dancing, and a little Mat and Carolyn trivia game.
All too soon it was time to call it a night as Dave’s internal clock was still two hours ahead and I had an early morning flight the next day. I said my good-byes and was driven back to Crowne Plaza by Dave. I shook his hand and wished him a fun vacation.
I’ll carry the memories of this trip for a long time and look forward to the next visit with Mat and Carolyn.
Until the next time. . .
Chris' Corner 