With the wedding really close now — nine days away as I write — I am forced over and over again, in casual conversation, to avoid using the cliché “calm before the storm.”
Preparations are relatively calm, even if my fiancée is spending the night working on some favours for guests and customizing some pillows for the rented couches, while I’m upstairs typing away at this column between short emails confirming this or that detail of next week’s proceedings.
In the meantime I’ve picked up the marriage licence and the special event permit for the booze. Legally speaking, we’re good to go.
Marrying a sweet and psychologically solid woman helps with the whole calm thing: My feet are safe from the cold, and with everything organized so tightly, there aren’t really any serious challenges left to tackle.
I have to admit, for the first time I’m thinking more about actually enjoying myself at the wedding than I am about planning it. I pissed off my fiancée the other week by saying that while she was looking forward to the wedding, I was looking forward to the day after. I meant it. I just didn’t see all the planning hassle as having been worth it.
Now, finally, I am imagining myself having a good time at the wedding. Again, having a fantastic wife-to-be helps there: I know the party will be fun since she’s thought of everything. Twice.
One little problem remains: We’re still a little worried about money. There’s a cheque from my dad whose arrival I’m counting on. I’ve been checking the mailbox every day. Still nothing today. It’s getting a little close for comfort, I must say. I’m like Clark Griswold, hoping not to be enrolled in the jelly of the month club.
Other than being short some money for bills on the wedding night, what could go wrong? Plenty of things, I suppose. But I’m not the kind to worry speculatively, so here I am enjoying a beer and writing a column about getting married in just over a week. And I’m a hell of a lot more chilled out about the whole thing than most single guys (including me two years ago) would imagine I’d be. I’m calm, and mostly confident we can sail around any storm.
