What A Difference 9 Months Makes

No, no babies. Just a lot of change. The hair is shorter, the weather is colder, and I suddenly find myself on the early morning horizon of two years post-college. Wow.

And while that certainly takes up much of my mental energy, what with all the "where do we go from heres" floating around, I now have something to direct all of my energy toward: a wedding.

That's right! I'm engaged. I always loved the term. "Engaged to be married." Sorry, fellas, I have another "engagement." Better luck next time! But honestly, it is a beautiful thing. Christmas Eve Day and photo booths will forever have an even more sacred place in my heart than they already did. And I now take the first few (somewhat reluctant) steps down the wedding planning path, opening pages of magazines and scouring hundreds of images to find the perfect everything. I remember Kyle once asking me how much there could possibly be to plan a wedding, and not being able to come up with a very robust retort. If he asked me that question now, I think I would scare him away. There is a ton! No wonder people stay engaged for over a year: they need that time to find the right flowers and invitations and chair covers and dozens of other minute details that will undoubtedly drive me crazy. But we have instead decided to brave the wedding planning madness in a mere 8 and a half months. Theknot.com already alerted me to the some 30 things I needed to check off my "to do" list that were already greatly overdue. Thanks! That'll settle the nerves.

Kyle reminded me tonight that a wedding isn't about a wedding; it's about being married. The day will come and it will go, but whether or not the flowers die or the reds don't match or I fall into the cake, the next morning we'll wake up and be married. And that's pretty exciting. That's what matters most.