This is the third part of my 3-part series "The Wedding Etc.!" Parts 1 and 2 covered the wedding, the receptions and the honeymoon. This entry will cover the "etc." part. I'll try not to be TOO depressing and I reserve the right to come back later and edit these entries to be less negative. It's just that I'm super-de-duper tired after getting up way too late and then driving around in rush hour for 2-3 hours and stressing out about pets and other things.

So what happens after "happily ever after"? What happens to Cinderella and her prince after they drive away from the wedding site?

The first thing that happens is Cinderella has a complete emotional breakdown. See, she took the wedding planning way too seriously and killed herself emotionally, mentally and physically because she took the responsibility wholly on herself, and stuffed everything way down deep so she could just get through the planning that was killing her.

Not to mention Cinderella and her prince were fighting like devils the month before her wedding, and she stuffed all that down too, which was half of what made their fights so bad.

So she took every last bit of strength she had on The Day and put it towards simply getting through the day without letting on about all of the stress and stuffed feelings that had built up in her over the last 5 months. And the second everything was over and nobody was looking at her except her prince, she lost it. She sobbed for 15 minutes and said stupid things like, "I never should have gotten married," when what she really meant was "I never should have planned a wedding." Her prince looked anxiously at her, totally distressed at this sudden unexpected breakdown and completely at a loss of what to do, waiting for her to calm down enough to let him know what she needed.

After the sobfest was over, she managed to say that she would love to do something really normal, like go to the nearest cafe/espresso place and get something to drink. So her prince, just glad to see that his princess was finally calming down, took her to the espresso place and they each got drinks and drove to the bed and breakfast reserved for their first night together.

~*~

When I finished crying, I was okay. We got our drinks and then stopped at a car wash nearby and washed off all the things written on the car. We also stopped by my grandparents' house on the way out since we'd forgotten a very important gift there ($$$).

It was enough to just step into the familiarity of my grandparents' house, even for just a minute, to make me realize that life as I knew it was not, in fact, over. It had a very reassuring effect. But I also desperately wished I could stay, because everybody--Stephen's family, my family, my bridesmaids, the groomsmen--they were all there talking with one another. The first time our families had ever gotten to meet! His parents had met my mom, but not my sister, grandparents or aunts. And it was the first time my grandparents had really met anybody from my life outside of my hometown. It was such a wonderful setting. Oh, how I wished I could stay! But at the same time I was ready to get away from people. And that would've been weird.

So we continued on up to the bed and breakfast. Interestingly, they were in the middle of a blackout when we arrived. :D That's pretty classic Stephen and Stephanie--the oddest, quirkiest things happen to us! LOL.

It actually made our first night a little easier to not be able to see each other. Not 'cause it was romantic--it just made the experience a little less frying. :D

But that's all you need to know about THAT. :) (Although I'm open to being e-mailed if any of my friends have questions.)

So anyway, I was going to write about life after marriage, after the honeymoon, after ALL the wedding stuff was over.

Adjusting to married life hasn't been a walk in the park. It's been more like a walk on water, where you're trying very hard to keep your eyes on Christ and not think about the depth and fluidity of the water and the impossibility of its being able to hold you up. My first 2 weeks in the apartment were rough. Stephen works all day, and I don't have a job. So I am home all day long in a 2-bedroom apartment, in an unfamiliar town, living away from my mom and sister for the first time ever. Needless to say, it can get really depressing.

I've started to get out of the apartment now a little bit, which helps. I've also started waking up earlier so I have time to get things done during the day. When I don't get anything done, I feel disgustingly lazy and that only increases the depression.

I'm still looking for a job. That was seriously depressing me last week. I felt totally purposeless and unwanted. :( But this week it's lifted a little bit. I honestly think, though, that I am finally adjusting. It's a nice feeling after 2 weeks of feeling really depressed.

I really ought to end this entry now, so I can actually post it. :) It's been way too long in coming!

-Stephanie

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