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OUR HONEYMOON AT MEMOROSA

The Honeymoon Story

By Karen Stallings


We decided we wanted to go Europe for our honeymoon. David contacted Odd's wife Turid to let her know we were going to be on her continent and maybe we could stop by for a visit. Instead, we got a very generous and unexpected invite to stay at their home in Stavern. We got married on July 19, 2012 and the next week we were on a plane headed for Norway. We were there for almost a week enjoying the company and the incredible area in which he and his family live. The afternoon before we were scheduled to take an ocean liner across the water to Denmark, we had an incident. I don't know exactly how to preface this story except to say it's something straight out of a movie.

We had just gotten back from a walk into town and David suggested dipping our toes in the North Sea (who wouldn't want to say they were able to do that?). The water lapped up to the edge of the Nerdrum property and it was an absolutely beautiful view. We walked hand in hand the 15 minutes it took to navigate the inlet streams and the giant, smooth rocks that led to the vast body of water of the North Sea. We were standing on one of the gigantic rocks taking it all in and David took a step down towards the water. Just as he was about to put his foot down, I noticed the algae that covered the bottom of our gigantic smooth rock. Before I could get the warning out of my mouth, David hit the algae, his feet flew out from under him, and his head slammed backwards into the gigantic smooth rock on which we were perched. Then he slid into the water, knocked unconscious. The only positive other than the fact that the rock was smooth, was that he slid into a shallow pool of water instead of the open sea. His body was submerged but his head was out of the water. Another positive is that David has really thick hair so his brains weren't lying around mucking up the beautiful scenery.

I immediately slid down to his lifeless body (the image still hurts my stomach) and realized he was knocked out. His eyes were rolled up in his head and he was not moving or responding to me screaming his name or pounding on his chest. You cannot imagine what goes through the mind when something like this happens. A couple of thoughts I had were: “I waited 35 years to find THE ONE and THIS IS HOW IT ENDS!” and “WHO IN THE HELL IS GOING TO COME GET ME IN NORWAY?!!” This went on for about two minutes. Two minutes of screaming his name and pounding on his chest waiting for the worst thing that could ever happen in my life to be confirmed. And then a rather large wave came in and it hit us both in the face and he came back. Just like that he was back. We got up and I check the back of his very thick skull under all that thick hair and there was nothing but a bump. A big bump. No blood, no gash, no wound. So I started asking questions he should know the answers to because I assumed he would have a massive concussion. He knew our names, he knew where we worked, he knew who the president was . . . this was all really unexpected, great news.

We were both soaked and shaken so we started walking back to Odd's place. I pointed out the giant anthill we passed on the way out to the water and David did not remember walking around it 30 minutes prior. Ok, his memory isn't the best on a good day . . . But then he started asking me why we were wet. I told him we fell into the water. Ok. But why are we wet? We fell. But why are we wet? We fell David. Ok, but what happened? Why are we wet? Oh boy. We went back and forth the entire walk back and it just kept getting worse. Every 30 seconds he asked what happened and why we were wet. I answered him each time but he could not retain my answers. I was crying by the time we got back to the house. Odd's family quizzed him for a bit and we all decided we needed to see someone in the medical field.

His sons drove us to a kind of urgent care about a half hour away. The doctor suggested showing him pictures to determine how badly his memory was affected. I showed him pictures of him chopping wood that morning, wearing the same clothes he had on and he didn't remember. I went back to earlier in the week and he didn't remember. I showed him pictures from our wedding the week before and (wait for it!) . . . .he didn't remember! He didn't remember OUR WEDDING. He couldn't understand why I was in the white dress. Or why we were standing in front of all those people. Really??? The doctor determine that the trauma from David's head slamming into the gigantic smooth rock had erased the last two years from his memory. David thought it was 2010. The urgent care sent us to the hospital. So we were treated to an hour long ambulance drive to the closest Norwegian hospital to handle traumatic brain injury. They were worried about swelling of the brain or bleeding of the brain. Nice. Thanks. Happy Honeymoon.

The ambulance ride was terrifying. We got to the hospital and we waited. David couldn't understand why I was upset (What happened? Why are we all wet?). They gave him an MRI and CT scan and they found nothing wrong . . . I beg to differ . . . The memory loss was probably temporary (probably???) and he was going to have a massive headache for a few days. Ok, keeping things in perspective, this was incredible news. We were going to be fine and I wasn't going to have to start thinking about getting my dead husband's body back to Lancaster or what my first year of marriage would be like with my husband in a medically induced coma. Whew.

We had to call Odd's wife at four in the morning to find out their address because we didn't know it or the road their house was on or any type of geographical landmark (except it's close to the North Sea and the rocks where I almost left my hopes and dreams). The hospital called us a cab and we managed to get back to the Nerdrum residence. As we pulled up to the driveway and paid the taxi driver the $246 for the ride (ugh! Again, perspective, Karen), David's memory came back. Just like that, it was back. He knew we were married and on our honeymoon and could recall everything about the last week. The only thing he still can't remember is the half hour leading up to the fall. He remembers getting back from our walk and saying hi to Odd and his wife Turid and presenting them with a bottle of wine we brought back from town. After that it gets fuzzy and the next thing he remembers is the walk up the driveway after the cab.

So that's the Honeymoon Story. The longest 12 hours of my life. A story that still hurts my stomach when I think what could have been. Thank goodness for happy endings.


I took a photo from an enourmous rock I climbed to capture this beautiful view. Can you see the rocks way out there emerging from the ocean? That's about where we were when it happened. I have no memory of the twelve hours my wife had to endure, so I asked her if she would mind retelling the story in writing. I remember being foggy for quite a few days afterward. After we arrived in Denmark and could not find a place to stay for the night, we took a train as far as we could. Then, there were no more trains coming. It was about 11:30 at night and not the safest feeling place. We waited and waited. Finally, we saw a taxi driver and asked him about the trains.  He told us that because of work on the rails, all trains were not running anymore. As we stood on the sidewalk in the dark night, my wife was visably concerned for our safety.

I looked at her and said "It could be worse."

That instant--as if I had cued it myself--it began to pour rain.  But that is another story.