runlindsayrun

Return to Reality

I think that - if people are going to get engaged - they should definitely consider a destination engagement. I really appreciated the couple of days it bought me before my life got really, really crazy. I feel like I had a few 'bonus' days to kind of absorb the news and just enjoy lots of non-wedding-planning time with Geoff. (Did I mention that he surprised me with breakfast on the last day of our trip? He's so good to me.)

Honestly? (Can I be honest here?) I've spent the last couple of years of my life being a little bit afraid of being engaged. It all seemed so exciting and romantic when I was younger... Now, after living a fabulous single life past what would be considered a 'typical' age for marriage in the small town where I grew up, there has been a tiny element of fear associated with this announcement. Fear that nobody would care, because marriage was something so many of my friends had done so long ago and most of them have moved on to the mommy stage already (and everyone knows that baby trumps wedding). Fear that my single friends would be somehow different toward me, that my married friends would treat me differently, that my anti-marriage friends would make comments that hurt more than they're funny. Fear that my life during our engagement period wouldn't be happy. And most of all, fear that I would somehow change and not be the same person I have always been.

So far, it's been pretty okay. More than pretty okay - it's been really okay. I'm so grateful for all the emails and messages and hugs from friends and family and people who are genuinely happy for us. I'm a very lucky girl (and exactly the same person I was a week ago, plus a gorgeous ring). And I tell Geoff every day how lucky he is :P

Anyway. My parents and Jessica picked us up at the airport just before 10 pm last night. We were greeted with lots of hugs, a bridal magazine from my mom, and an immediate ring comparison from my sister.

And so it begins.

I woke up in Winnipeg today and it was cold and rainy outside. I'm running a tiny bit of a fever, I can't breathe out of my nose, and my throat is scratchy. And I had to get up and go to work. Ugh. It's really good to be back and dealing with normal stuff, but it was a harsh reality check.

I'm speaking at a fundraiser for The Arthritis Society tomorrow night (and another one this weekend), and I haven't started writing either speech yet. I haven't even thought about unpacking, other than fishing out a tank top from my big suitcase and my make-up from my small suitcase. And when I was digging out the aforementioned tank top, I discovered that one of my hair products had exploded inside of its ziploc bag on the flight home... and naturally, leaked into the rest of my stuff. Awesome. That will be a fun project.

But I have a date with my fiance this evening, at *our* fabulous new house. And my cell phone arrived from Kamloops by courier this morning :)

Labels: My Life, The Arthritis Society, Travel, Wedding

posted by Lindsay @ 9:40 AM