Making it to your daughter's wedding is good.
David Jones was doing to make it to his daughter's wedding. Come Hurricanes or high-water.
TL;DR:
Making it to your daughter’s wedding is important to most fathers. Making it to your daughter’s wedding through a hurricane is a testament to commitment, endurance and love.
This is a good story.
The damage caused by Hurricane Helene has been truly devastating. From Asheville to Sylva and Canton, cities and towns have been inundated, with homes and infrastructure destroyed. However, one thing that wasn't destroyed was David Jones' unwavering determination to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.
Jones was driving from South Carolina to Johnson City, Tennessee, where his daughter Elizabeth Marquez was getting married. After reaching Erwin, Tennessee, his journey was halted by a destroyed bridge.
With 27 miles still to go, Jones was undeterred.
"I just did what any dad would do,"
"It's incomprehensible, the destruction," Jones remarked. "The complete missing bridge and the rushing water."
But Jones, a trained marathon runner, had the endurance he needed.
"I thought, 20 or 30 miles, I can do this," he said.
His journey was perilous. He fell waist-deep into sand, lost his shoe, climbed over uprooted trees, and trekked through mud. He even encountered state troopers who advised him to turn back.
Jones replied, "My daughter's getting married at 11:00, and I'm going to be there to walk her down the aisle. I grabbed a reflector as I passed by and thought, hopefully people will see me."
David Jones traveled 17 miles on foot before hitching a ride for the remaining 10 miles. He finally arrived at the church at 7:30 a.m.
Jones presented the reflector to his daughter and her husband as a symbol of their commitment to protect each other.
"I presented the reflector to them at the reception and said, 'Let this be a remembrance for you whenever you see it to be a protector for each other, especially in your darkest hours.'"
After the wedding, Marquez and her husband left for their honeymoon in Hawaii.
It's a heartwarming conclusion to a remarkable story.
A very good story.