RA Stories: He’s Got the Wedding Bell Blues…”

Last winter, I was an RA in an all freshmen hall. A new resident moved in winter term named “Chris,” who had just transferred from a small college in the Midwest. His girlfriend lived in the area, and she was up visiting all the time.

Then, one week I saw him hanging out with a girl named “Sarah” who lived on another floor of the same residence hall. It was the first time I had seen the two of them together.

The following week, I stop by his room and “Sarah” was in his room again. She says something about having just got married. Of course, I did not believe her at first because she barely knew “Chris,” but apparently “Chris” and “Sarah” had run away to Las Vegas and got married.

Apparently, “Sarah” had been hanging out with “Chris” one Friday night and just said, “Let’s get married.” So, the two of them just got in the car, went to a pawn shop to get rings, drove to Las Vegas and got married over the weekend!

This was a bit of a surprise to not just me, but to my entire community, as “Chris” had just asked one of my other residents out on a date the week before he got married. He had told that resident that he just wanted to date and wasn’t looking for commitment (even though he had a girlfriend already)…right before he ran away and got married over the weekend to another girl whom he hardly knew.

To make matters worse, “Chris” didn’t break up with his girlfriend until after he had married “Sarah” and it seems that “Sarah” also had a 4-year-old child and was just 18 herself.

Within a week or two, “Chris” was demanding an annulment, but the last I heard, “Sarah” wouldn’t sign the papers.

What a crazy story—it was definitely a topic of conversation throughout our small residence hall system for several weeks.