I survived! I’m now a married lady. What’s different? I’m a little sunburned from the honeymoon. I’m wearing two rings now instead of one. And our living room is full of boxes of registry gifts (for which we are very thankful!) and Ikea furniture we bought to hold said gifts. Also, last night I found my first grey hair. In my eyebrow, no less. So I guess I’m officially old now?
The experience of getting married was really wonderful. I had a lot of uncomfortable stress in the months leading up to it, but all of that seemed to evaporate on that day. I’ll take some credit for that – I’ve been practicing meditation almost every day and I don’t think we could possibly have been more prepared after all of the planning we did. The day of the wedding, Reid and I texted all morning. I ate breakfast and lunch. I stood by the window in the hotel room and enjoyed the sunshine while my bridesmaids got their hair done. When the photographer arrived I was excited. When it was time to go to the venue I was pumped. When I started walking down the aisle with my dad and saw Reid trying not to cry I almost lost it… but then when I got up there and held his hands, I was just ready. The ceremony was perfect, the photo session afterward was a lot of fun (photos to come) and the reception was an absolute blast. The food was great, our families got along, our friends had a great time, and my grandmother stole the show with her dance moves. There was a beer festival happening on the street outside, and instead of being annoyed by it, our photographer took the opportunity to pose us in the middle of the revelry. The whole night really couldn’t have been any better.
The next day we spent some time with our families and packed up for Aruba. If you ever get a chance to go there – grab it. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort because we figured we’d need the relaxation. This was true, and it was definitely worth it, but it’s a little funny that we thought we’d be able to really relax. Take two high-strung New Yorkers who just finished with the most stressful event of their lives and drop them in a foreign place and laugh as they try to avoid picking up their phones or ruminating on existential questions by the pool. We did have an amazing time, though. The weather was perfect, the food was great, and we even went snorkeling:
Now we’re back to real life, which basically means work… which we both actually kind of missed, because of the high-strung New Yorker thing ;) I have to admit I’ve been feeling a little bit of the post-wedding blues. Planning that thing took up a big chunk of my time and energy, and that space feels kind of empty now. That’s sort of exciting, though. I can fill that with whatever I want. So far that’s been a lot of reading. One of the greatest things about being away for two weeks was how easy it was to avoid social media. Now that I’ve got more free time I’m hoping I won’t fall back to my old ways of checking Facebook every few minutes. Something tells me I’ve formed new habits, though. Healthier ones. Plus, I’ve formed a family. So that’s definitely something to be excited about.
I’ll get back to talking about health and science and journalism here soon. Until then, please enjoy this picture of me doing the Electric Slide with Grandma :)
