Easter
We went to Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim’s for Easter today. We were running a bit late due to a silly squabble about laundry. It got heated and James said he didn’t want to go to Easter any more, that I should just go without him.
How can I go without him when the reason we’re going to Aunt Mary’s (as opposed to my aunt Val’s, where we were also invited) was that my dad’s side of the family wanted to celebrate the engagement? Happy engagement! Where’s your fiance? That looks good.
Though I love being engaged and knowing that we are committed to each other, it imbues every little argument with so much weight. If we break up now, it’s not just a break up, but breaking off an engagement. If we fight about laundry now, are we going to be fighting about laundry for the rest of our lives? The stakes just seem so much higher since I said yes.
But we resolved the Great Laundry Dispute of 2007 and headed off to Easter dinner.
We walked in the house and were handed champagne and immediately enveloped in hugs. The residual tension from our laundry fight dissolved and I remembered again why we are getting married. It’s about love and family. I love James and I want to start a family with him. Seeing my family and feeling their support reinforced our committment to each other.
Since we hadn’t seen anyone on this side of my family since the cruise, I told the whole story of our engagement, which everyone ate up. About the time I was nominated by my high school friends to give the toast at our friend Anne’s wedding, I realized that I enjoy speaking in public. I like to tell stories. And there is no story I like telling better than this one.
But even more surprising than our greeting were the gifts! Our first engagement gifts! My cousin Brandt and his wife, Becky, gave us the cutest bunny dip bowl with spreader (the spreader is the bunny’s tail! It is so cute!) and a nice card. Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim gave us a measuring mixing bowl from Pampered Chef. I admired hers a few months ago — it’s going to be great for making pancakes.
I accidently gushed too much about how much I love engagement cards (I didn’t even know they existed before we got engaged) and made Aunt Mary feel bad that she didn’t get us one. That wasn’t what I meant! I didn’t expect anything!
We played some King’s Cribbage, Brandt’s newest obsession, and when I got home I caught my brother, Billy, online and chatted with him a bit. It was a family day. I don’t see any of my family on a daily, or even weekly, basis, so these holidays are really important to me.
