There's No I in Wedding...Oh Wait

Well folks, here I am again, and this time it's only been a month or so since my last post! Much better than the previous 3 month gap, but still pretty pathetic. As you probably guessed the lapse in posts means that the magical day is getting closer and closer! Now with only 50 days left until the big day we are finally in, as the brave men and women who fight for our country like to say, "the shit." Believe me, I have the utmost respect for the soldiers who fight for our country, so I am, in no way, attempting to cheapen the experiences that they have. All I'm saying is that there have been quite a few nights here lately where my fiancee and I have spent hours pouring over emails, pictures, budget spreadsheets, and countless other pieces of random paperwork; only to look over and see the other person with "the thousand yard stare." Quite frankly, we underestimated (somewhat vastly) the whole process of planning a destination wedding ourselves. You see, wedding planning is kind of like one of those Russian nesting dolls; but instead of another beautifully painted doll inside of the doll you just opened, there's really just a bunch of checklists to finish and bills that need to be paid. Then you finish all of those, and there's more flowers to pick out and goodie bags to make, and etc., etc., ad nauseum. When we first decided to tackle this beast ourselves we figured it'd be a great way to use our personal strengths and band together in our first act as a real family; now that this intimate little beach wedding has been zapped and turned into Frankenwedding, it's put us to the test both as individuals and as a couple.

One of the reasons I love my bride-to-be is her attitude. She doesn't like rules; never has. She wants what she wants and generally when she wants it, and once she sets her mind on something she chugs full steam ahead until she gets it. I, on the other hand, am a rule follower. I yield; I stay off the grass; if the women's restroom at a bar is open but the men's is full, I'll wait. Don't get me wrong, being an only child and a Leo, I also like to get what I want and when I want it; I'm just much more calculated about it. I'll wait for what I think is the right time to strike and then make my move. She's Leatherface with a chainsaw; I'm Hannibal Lecter with a scalpel. Obviously, this makes for some pretty messy situations. But throughout this planning process we've learned that we work pretty well as a team. When we need blunt-force, no negotiating, our way or the highway, I turn her loose on our wedding coordinator in Mexico. When we need rational, pragmatic and persuasive arguments, it's me you'll see on the mic. The bottom line is that, no matter what, this whole process is definitely teaching us how to work together as a team to trouble-shoot and problem-solve, and I think that's a lot of what marriage is ultimately about. You can have all of the passion in the world, but the bottom line is that a lot of what being married is about is the day-to-day and the detritus that comes with it. If you can't learn how to work together to make sure those little problems remain little problems, then all the passion in the world isn't going to save you.

Working your way through life's little bumps and twists and turns may not seem sexy, but when you realize that you have someone in your corner whose got your back through all of those little valleys, the peaks become that much higher, and that's what stokes the passion. Of course, I am the rational one, so I would think that.