What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?
I’m not really known for being spontaneous. I tend to think things through, make plans and know where I’m going before I get there.
But one Tuesday in August 2015, Daryl and I drove to the courthouse in Marietta and got married.
We already had our church wedding planned for October, so this wasn’t exactly an elopement in the traditional sense. There were invitations, plans and a ceremony still to come. But we decided we didn’t really want to wait two more months to officially begin our marriage.
So we didn’t.
On August 10, we went to the courthouse and made it legal. Then, on October 10, we stood before God, our family and our friends at All Souls Anglican and celebrated our marriage in the way we had originally planned.
There have certainly been more adventurous things I’ve done. I traveled to Israel when I was 18. I’ve taken unplanned detours on vacations that became some of the best parts of the trip. I once changed careers and started teaching at an age when a lot of people are already thinking about retirement.
But spontaneity isn’t always about jumping out of an airplane or buying a plane ticket on a whim. Sometimes it’s simply looking at the person beside you and realizing there’s no particularly good reason to wait.
So we didn’t.
And for one August afternoon, at least, I was pretty spontaneous.
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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
