Help Jessie Get Out of Iceland

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Longtime readers of Run DMZ may recall my good friend Jessie, who served as confidant when we worked together and companion when we were "in transition" a year later.

Jessie is getting married in two weeks, but not where she planned. About eight weeks before the date, she went to put down the required deposit for their dinner reception and learned this place had double booked and dropped their reservation. This also put the ceremony location in Quantico, Va., in jeopardy and, long story short, she cried hard, cried a lot, and then booked a harbor cruise for both ceremony and reception and at a very pretty penny. She's been super stressed since.

Well before the wedding/reception went south (or, rather, north), she and her fiance Duke thought it might be fun to have friends and family choose their honeymoon destination. And Duke's friends thought it would be hilarious to send them to Iceland. So they voted en masse and Iceland pulled waaaaay ahead in the poll. Jessie called me one day and was genuinely concerned.

Since then I have waged a secret battle against the Marines and quietly marshalled my family forces to shift those percentages towards a better venue. Initially it was Greece, but now it's New Zealand since (a) it's warmer in winter and (b) it's solvent.

Now it's time to mount a surge.

Please help me get my friend to New Zealand by voting on their Web site. And if you can find it in your heart - and schedule - maybe you can do it more than once between now and Oct. 22. Let me know in the comments that you participated. I'll add you to the card I send to wish her well on her honeymoon, made possible because of you. It'll make her day -- and mine too.

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