Serenity Now...Like, Right Now

Before all of this crazy wedding stuff started complicating our lives, Shug and I complicated our lives with plans of trips to pretty alright places. Sometimes these pretty alright places had pretty alright bands playing there. This was a bonus.

We'd purchase our plane tickets six months in advance, usually in the smogged-in winter months, when just an image of a fresh-cut mango could carry us through an entire freezing week.

We'd plan, re-plan, scrap those plans and plan again. The details of where to go, how to get there, where to stay, and (most importantly) what to eat were discussed ad nauseam. It was exhilarating!

We are now currently preoccupied with colored tissue paper, table rentals, and helium prices. What happened to us?

Now before I continue wallowing in the luxurious waters of self pity, I will remind you and myself, that I am supremely lucky to be headed to the altar with a man that I believe is the closest thing to perfection...well, other than gluten-free ice cream pies, but I digress...

I realize that I live in a country where throwing a party to celebrate a "marriage" is still not allowed for all couples that wanna get hitched and have it recognized by the government. I also realize that throwing a lavish party, in and of itself, is kinda gross in the midst of a recession...Granted our wedding is going to bottom-line at a THIRD of what the average American spends on nuptial celebrations, but, still...

I think that this wedding planning has been a true litmus test for our relationship. We've already experienced each other ridiculously happy, crap-your-pants ill, boiling mad, and downtroddenly sad...But we've never had to coordinate, decision-make, or discuss so many things in such a truncated amount of time.

Add the pressure of spending moolah in amounts beyond our comfort level and navigating the waters of what each family needs and you've got yourself a certified-relationship-fortitude-test!

I'll let you know if we pass.