11 Years Ago Today, I Married A Queen....

.....down in the beautiful town of Tequila, Jalisco, México. Your typical awesome Méxican wedding, 12-piece mariachi band, food, food, food.....and of course....tequila! I hesitated to post this, but what the hell......... The Arizona Republic ran a story on us............. (Joe hairdo)



Dan and Fanny XXXXXX can thank a bus driver for the ride of their lives.

Hoping to practice his Spanish, Danny traveled from Phoenix to Mexico City in August 1994 and then decided to hitchhike home. Near Guadalajara, a bus pulled up, and he told the driver he wanted to go to the town of Tepic. The bus driver kept saying, "Tequila." Not wishing to purchase alcohol, Dan shook his head. Finally the driver shouted, "Subete!" (Get on!) and Dan did.

The bus was packed. Blond, blue-eyed and 6 feet, 5 inches tall, Dan stood out in the crowd. For him, one beautiful young woman stood out, too. Their eyes locked. She tugged at his sleeve and asked if he spoke English. "I wanted to practice," says Fanny, now 31, who was studying accounting at the university in Guadalajara. He said that he did and sat next to her. "He looked so lost," she says. "He seemed like a big teddy bear."

Fanny explained the bus was going to her hometown of Tequila. When she heard he wanted to go to the state of Nayarit, she told him he would have to change buses at another location. So she invited him to her family's home in Tequila, a town of cobblestone streets where her father warily eyed the tall American who was 12 years older than his daughter.

After a few hours stay, Fanny and her father escorted Dan to the bus stop. He asked if Fanny was married. She said no, and he said they should become pen pals. She would write in English, and he in Spanish.

In February, Dan went back to Tequila to see Fanny. When she met him at the airport, "I couldn't believe it," she says. "He was so handsome." Dan stayed with the family almost two weeks. Fanny's parents told her, "You'd better watch him in this town. Even the dogs smile at him."

With her parents' permission, the couple dated but never without a chaperone. "I respected it," says Dan, 43, director of the biotech-pharmaceutical division of the Phoenix-based Sterling International, a human-resource company. Once, in the plaza, he stole a kiss.

In April, Dan plotted with Fanny's father to surprise her on her birthday. "Somebody rang the doorbell, and there he was," she says. "I was shocked." And happy.

In August, Dan made one more trip to Tequila. All day he carried around an engagement ring tucked inside his sock, waiting for the right moment. Finally at a restaurant that night, when they were alone, he gave her the ring and proposed.

Today the Mesa couple celebrate two wedding anniversaries. First, Fanny and Dan had to have a civil ceremony so that they could begin Fanny's immigration process. Then April 27, 1996, they had a church wedding in Tequila. Twenty-five of Dan's friends flew down from the Valley. More than 200 of Fanny's relatives turned out, including her cousin, a chef who made food that covered a 20-foot-long table. A 12-piece Mariachi band from the nearby Sauza tequila factory played, and tequila flowed at an open bar.

And the bus driver who had brought them together? He was the guest of honor.

And tomorrow......it's her birthday......................