Happy 35th birthday to me

Today was my 35th birthday. Crazy to think that I’ve been keeping this blog for twelve years; I was only 23 when it started. I can look at the writing and see myself growing up and my opinions on things changing. I’ve gotten a lot less judgemental over the years, I think.

Michael and I are getting married in three and a half weeks. October 31. We’re just about ready. My dress is at a tailor’s for alterations; fortunately it just needs a few stitches here and there. My mom is sewing me a blue garter for my something blue. The astrakhan capelet I ordered online to wear over the dress when I’m outdoors (it’s likely to be cold and damp) is antique, so that’s my something old. Everything else is new. I just need to borrow something.

I’m looking at this wedding as a celebration of love’s triumph. Both our families, and common sense, had indicated that he and I should not be together. But here we are. We outlasted all of them and they’ve had to admit they were wrong about us, that we belong together.

We won’t have as big an attendance as we would have wanted, because pandemic and all. But there will be guests, and we will have it broadcast online too for the guests who choose to attend online. We don’t have a honeymoon planned; he’ll be right back to work on Monday. Someday we’ll do a honeymoon, go back to Poland maybe, once the United States isn’t a giant leper colony anymore. At present no other country wants us.

Oddly, though I am scrupulous about masking for both him and me, I no longer worry about Michael catching COVID-19. I do understand that he fits the profile of someone likely to get very sick if he does catch it, and that it could kill him. But the thing is, after awhile you just have to stop worrying about it. Either it happens or it doesn’t.

The worry sinks below the surface of your mind and is replaced by other, more pressing ones: We will get our mandatory “Catholic Marriage” and “Natural Family Planning” classes done in time for the wedding? Will a second Civil War break out in November? Is it just my imagination, or does my car engine sound louder than usual? Why have three blood draws in a row said I have critically low sodium levels when I feel fine?

I hope to spend the next thirty-five years with my husband, as happy with him, and he with me, as we are now.

Everyone: vote, wash your hands, wear a mask over your mouth AND your nose in public, and keep yourselves safe.