Thinking About How Far We've Come...

Yesterday, as Teri and I went over the guest list one almost-last time, made some adjustments and additions and stacked and rubber-banded the invitations to be put in the mail this coming week, I got to thinking NOT about the tasks left to do, but wondering just how many items and tasks we've already checked off the "to do" list...

One of the snazzy things about the handy-dandy checklist we've been using, is that I can go back and look at all the tasks we've checked off--from deciding on a venue, to finalizing the rental list for the party-supply store, to ordering invitations and purchasing our rings.  Step by step, we've had discussions, made decisions, and worked through a daunting list in what I used to refer to with my kids as do-able chunks (I learned during their adolescence that the term "baby steps" did not work--I can't remember which of them nearly took my head off--metaphorically, of course--at the insult and insistence that I was calling her or him a baby!  Do-able chunks became the family term for breaking things up into manageable pieces.)

There can be no denying a sense of accomplishment and teamwork as we have moved through the past year of planning, just as there is a sense of accomplishment in looking back over our time together as a couple.  While we do not have the decades under our belts that many couples we know have, we do have a good foundation for looking back over our shared history: Bumps, bruises, laughs, gooey delight and stormy exasperation...

The Wedding Planning list is getting shorter--I am glad we gave ourselves plenty of time with what I think of as a just-right engagement. I am doubly-glad to be experiencing this particular adventure at the age I am now.  When I started this blog and we started the planning process, I felt as though there was no place for the forty-plus in Wedding Land, but Teri and I have found that this has been a great age to create such a celebration.  We were musing yesterday that this has been our ceremony and our party from the beginning and much of that is due to the fact that we are seasoned, independent and relatively confident women in charge of our own lives. That wasn't where either of us were at in our twenties. 

It has taken us both half a lifetime to get to this point in our personal evolution, and a year to get to this point in the planning of our shindig--we've come a long way, baby!