The kid is not my son

This is how I pass the time before the wedding...

Married Life

Emily brought something to my attention a few days ago that really got me thinking. We, along with our close friend Tim Mrock, were discussing what would change once Emily and I are officially husband and wife. In my head, there would be this dramatic shift in thinking, worlds would collide and the heavens would open up to turn my life upside down. Cold feet? No, just paranoia.

But Emily said something that put it all in perspective for me. We are already married. You see, Em and I have been living together now for a year and a half. I moved into her condo in August of 06 and to be honest, it was a leap of faith. Before that, we had been together for 3 years but had become stagnant with our relationship idling by as we watched other's progress down the road to eternity. So when we made the decision to live a joint life, it was really a sink or swim situation.

Luckily, we survived. I can honestly say it was the best decision of my life. Our relationship is by no means a perfect one. We still fight, still piss each other off, and we definitely still have a lot to learn but we also make each other happy, care deeply for one another and most importantly, visualize a future with one another.

When we finally tie the knot, we will have been together for 5 years. During that time, we have been through a lot. We both graduated university, both got big person jobs, and even broken up twice. The longest was for 5 days and it was a very miserable time. But now here we are having weathered the storms ready for whatever life hands us.

So, she is right, not much will really change. We will still live together, still pay the same bills, still fight about the same stupid shit, still have a crazy dog who thinks he's in charge, but most importantly, still love one another with all our hearts.

We don't need no stinkin' china patterns!

First off, I apologize for the delay between posts. Work and the weekends have been quite busy and my mind has not been juiced enough to comprehend complete sentences. A lot of you have been asking me when the next post will be up and I thank you for taking an interest in it. Hopefully, I can make this post a dandy.

Since the last post, Emily and I have begun to register for the shower and wedding. We decided upon Macy's and Bed, Bath and Beyond. We were a bit overwhelmed the first time we set out on the store floors with our scanner in hand. We begun at Macy's with the intentions of picking a china pattern but as the day went on, we could not decide and have yet choose one. Emily thought she found the perfect pattern but it turned out to be discontinued. Perhaps thats a sign. We were more successful at Bed, Bath and Beyond. We scanned quite a bit there and enjoyed ourselves.

I was amazed at how well you are treated when you walk into these stores and tell them you want to register. We were given top notch customer service, free gifts, entered for contests, and even were given free drinks and candy. This marriage thing is already paying off! It just goes to show how big of an industry the wedding business has become. It wasn't like this when our parents got married. But back then, people didn't know any better. I mean ruffles on the tuxes???

Our wedding invites have also been selected and will be mailed this spring. Finally, we chose a wedding band for Emily. I won't say where we got it but we did get a really good deal and she is very satisfied. She couldn't resist wearing it the day she got it.

For now it appears pretty much everything has been taken care of. We have been focused lately on looking for homes around our area. We are not planning on moving soon but it never hurts to see what's out there.

That's pretty much it for now. Thursday, March 20th is Emily's birthday so make sure you wish her the best.

Happy Easter!

It keeps goin and goin and goin...

These last three weeks have been busy ones for Emily and me but we've gotten a lot accomplished. As time winds down and the pressure mounts, I am very impressed by her ability to handle whatever comes up. This is a very stressful time for both of us but I am very pleased that we are able to get through it and still stay as close as ever. But on to the action...

When we first were kicking around ideas for the wedding, one roadblock we came to was whether to have a reverend perform the ceremony. Neither of us are religious in this stage of our life so we didn't have any connections in this area. As time went on, we discussed having a friend get ordained and perform the ceremony but the higher ups nixed that idea. Finally, in a bit of serendipitous luck, an old college friend of mine (who is in possession of 2/3 of my inner organs) suggested we look into her father, Reverend Harry Cook.

Having the great pleasure of meeting with him, we were overjoyed when learning that he shares a lot of the same beliefs we do. Everything from religious, political, social, and tastes in TV shows. We were quick to book him and check this portion off our to-do list. This was an important decision to make for me. Religion has always been an iffy subject in my life and getting a man who I respected above anything else was most important. Reverend Cook is everything I was looking for, educated, open minded, and tolerant of all personal beliefs.

Our next goal was to book a musician for the ceremony. The ceremony won't be in a church so we had to look elsewhere for la musica. We knew early on that we wanted an acoustic guitarist to play the ceremony. Emily's best friend and maid of honor, Sarah, had one at her wedding and it fit perfectly. It took us a while to find the right performer but we finally came across Robert Jones of Canton. He specializes in classical/Spanish guitar, just the type of sound we were looking for.

He invited us to his home and played some pieces he thought would be a nice fit for us. I won't name the pieces we selected but I will say they are one of a kind and will make our ceremony a unique experience for all who are there.

That is all for now. Stay tuned next time for another exciting adventure entitled,

"Do we really need a cheese slicer?"

I'm too old for a quarter-life crisis

At which age do we become too old to relate with today's youth? When does your thumbs switch off MTV for something more relatable? When do we lose track of which rapper is hip? (Who the hell is Flo rida and what on Earth is a Soulja boy?)

I recently attended a show in East Lansing, home to Michigan State University and while I was there, I was confronted by a grim reality, I'm an adult. As I took my seat and began to people watch, my eyes were greeted by a frightful sight of young, hairless, faces on well dressed young co-eds. Then I looked at myself and saw a man in his late 20s, with a receding hairline, beard stubble, wearing a ratty hoodie I bought from the GAP for 15 dollars. (One of these things is not like the other...)

I tried remembering how I viewed life when I was that age...full of optimism, anticipation, all the while care free and enjoying myself. Then I tried to remember when reality set in and the world imposed it's own views onto me, stress, responsibility, and that feeling like you're going nowhere.

For a moment there, I was ready to throw myself over the upper railings and land on some pierced, gel-atinous 19 year old wearing a North Face jacket...I think that is the standard uniforms for the kids these days.

But then I backed away from my anxiety driven jump and started thinking about all the perks that come with being an adult, respect, money (although there never seems to be enough), freedom, and love.

Now love can be attained at any age but it's not always practical. Sometimes its innocent, lustful, careless, or ignorant. Then there is the love that is true, respectful, and virtuous. That can only come to someone who has outgrown their adolescent thinking and stepped into a world of home owning and board game nights. It presents itself to someone who is ready to live for the future not someone who wants to relive the past.

I say all this because without this thinking, I would not be where I am today, with the person I share a life and goals with. I would not have the friends I have today or the insight to write these words.

In short, I'll accept the fact that I have no idea what songs play on TRL anymore or even not knowing if TRL is still on! I'm ok with no longer going through life without a care and only working to pay for my beers because I now have substance in my life and a lot more to live for...but I would take back my 19 year old hair line.

Monogamy never tasted so good!

This past weekend, we along with my soon to be in-laws hit up a small Italian bakery to test out their wonderful selections of wedding cakes. This was something I have been looking forward to for a long time and I am happy to say that the humble baker did not dissapoint.

The selections were delicious and the coffee was great. It was definetly a great way to spend a morning. As of right now, we are still undecided on which flavor to pick but we had a great time hearing from all the candidates.

That is all for now. More to come in the next week...

Brushing off our shoulders

As it turns out, planning a wedding is stressful. You have to plan for every situation and have a back up plan for anything that may happen. After receiving some sage advice from an experienced husband-at-law, I began making a list of everything we will need to do between now and the day after the wedding. And I mean everything, from what sort of appetizers to have, to who's gonna wheel Grandpa into the ceremony.

I've planned parties in the past but the wedding is making those seem like a casual get together at your local Starbucks. Every party involved in the planning has their own vision of the perfect wedding thus making agreements few and far between.

What we have decided on is that we want a wedding our family and friends will have fun at and will walk away having thoroughly enjoyed themselves. That is what Emily and I strive to achieve at any gathering we have, from a game night to our annual Halloween bash.

People have told us not to take this wedding so seriously because it is just a party that you will stress over and regret throwing but I don't think these people realize that this is (hopefully) the only time in our lives where people will be getting dressed up to come celebrate the fact that Emily and I have found each other and are happy. I guess the only other time that can happen will be our 25th anniversary and who knows when that'll be...I guess in 25 years but you get the point.

So hopefully, as July 26th gets closer and closer, and the stress begins to build more and more, we won't lose sight of the reason for it all...to celebrate our happiness...and to eat cake!