And just seven until I see my bride-to-be again. I wish this time would fly by a little faster. Unfortunately, work has been a little slow. I’m in a place at work where I think I may be close to finishing up my project, but I have been making a lot of requested revisions and, as such, have to meet a lot with people. They happen to be a little busier than me, so this has been stopping me. Perhaps today I’ll ask for another project to keep me busy. I think I’m more anxious about the wedding because the wedding means that I’ll get to see Danielle again. If she were living in Tampa, I probably wouldn’t be as anxious, maybe only seventy percent of my current level. The only part of my day that’s flying by right now is the afternoon because I have so much work to do to help my parents get the house ready for the reception next Friday. (and it actually has to be done by the rehearsal dinner on Thursday) So my days drag on while my evenings and nights go by way too quickly.

When you’ve been dating for four years, marriage is an interesting thing. Unlike those couples where the girlfriend is trying to get engaged as quckly as possible to ensure that her man doesn’t leave, we’ve been thinking about marriage since about six months into the relationship. For us marriage isn’t about being exclusive to each other because we’ve been exclusive since we started dating. That’s why, jokes aside, I am not one of those guys who has to be sure to go out there and get his last bang as a free man. It’s also why I’m not having a traditional Bachelor’s party (or maybe not even one at all). I don’t go to strip clubs now and I know that even if I did have an affinity towards them that my bride-to-be wouldn’t care if I went to one after marriage so having your last strip before marriage is also moot for me. (Of course, my religious beliefs play into it as well) So for us marriage is just about legitimizing our relationship in the eyes of God and the USA so that we can start a family. That’s it – we just want to officialize what we already believe. Since about six months ago (and even earlier) we knew we’d always be together no matter what.

Speaking of being legitimized in the USA – Florida (and maybe your state too) has a brochure they like all fiancees to read before marriage. In that book I learned that in Florida marriage is VERY important. You see, in this state, fornication is actually against the law. While you don’t really see people going to jail over it, this shows how seriously the state values marriage. In order to force you to marry to have sex they make sex out of marriage illegal. Again, it’s not really enforced, but it could be if they felt like it. So, I guess that’s another incentive to getting married.

The brochure also explained the consequences of divorce from the one place they knew people would listen – financial. It mentioned how property was split up as well as finances and responsibility for children. It was basically a negative reinforcement tool. Instead of encouraging you to marry for positive reasons it told you to stay married or else all this bad stuff would befall you. But, some people DO have to hear it that way or they don’t pay it any mind.

In any case, I’m looking forward to being joined in holy matrimony with the one I love.