The rain is gently tapping into the bushes and dropping a bit harder into the parking lot outside of my apartment window. My wife is in the kitchen cooking up some “eggy bacon cups” (eggs + bacon + muffin tin + oven = oh boy!). And I am sitting here writing to you on this beautiful Thanksgiving day, basking in the joy of how grateful I am for so much in my life!
Let’s rewind, though… it’s been a while.
The Before-the-Wedding Time
The couple of weeks leading up to our big day were some of the most tiring I’ve had. I was working full-time, surviving on cereal for dinner most nights, and almost the entirety of my evenings was spent building furniture and tidying up the home as best I could in-between. I enjoyed it all, and I was working hard to finish the things that needed to get done, but I was in survival mode. Sydney came by for a few evenings together after work, and one day, by the time I got home, this apartment had suddenly changed. It wasn’t just the survival zone I’d been existing in anymore, but it started to look and feel like an enjoyably livable space. She made it start to feel like home. Which is fitting, because that’s how she feels to me — like home.
Not that I didn’t do my part in cleaning up the place, too, of course. I had to, after all, because the weekend before our wedding, I was having a couple of friends over for my wild, swinging bachelor party. I am the type of person who doesn’t celebrate my birthdays, so I almost didn’t even have a bachelor party, but at the urging of these two friends, I decided to go through with it. And I’m glad I did! It was a very Mark day: breakfast out with Scott, Super Smash Bros. on a borrowed Switch (that’s a lot of S’s!), a visit to the pool once Nick came over, and our discovery of a very cool local pizza place. It was the best guy time I could imagine for a bachelor party — easy-going activities and lots of conversation with two men I really love.
The night before Sydney and I got married, we had a date night. After all of the packing and planning, and before the craziness of the big day, I wanted to be sure we took some quiet time for ourselves. We enjoyed a simple dinner at home and watched a movie while snuggled up on the couch together. There was no question as to what movie we would watch, either. Very early in our relationship I knew she was the one for me when she recommended that I watch About Time. And so we sat there together watching one of the most beautiful movies, our movie if ever there could be one, and at the end I joyfully bawled just as much as I did the first time I watched it. This time, though, I had Sydney next to me to hold and that made it all the more special 🙂
The Wedding
So, this day likely deserves its own post, but for now we’ll settle for a much more succinct version. I admit that part of why I haven’t written here in a while isn’t because I’ve been busy being newly married (well, not just because of that), but because it would feel odd just casually writing about something else, anything else, before writing about the most monumental day of my life thus far.
September 28, 2019. You may have been there. If so, I’m glad that you were, because you were able to see me at my happiest. I really loved our wedding. It was such a joy to be there greeting friends and family as they trickled in before the ceremony. Our setting and decorations were all that we’d wanted them to be, filled with quirk and sentimentality. I laughed and refrained from tears during Sydney’s wonderful vows she’d written. In fact, I was so touched and impressed by how well she expressed herself (a trait she doesn’t exemplify by her own admission) that I couldn’t help but lead everyone else in a round of applause after she had finished. My one job during the ceremony was to not cry, because if I went so would she, and I was victorious in my duty… but Sydney sure didn’t play fair when she quoted About Time in her vows.
I had been told that the day would be a blur and that I should focus on taking mental snapshots of special moments to help cement it all. It was good advice, because while I actually felt really grounded for most of the day, there are certain moments that I will always remember from my point of view. We have the photos, and those will help with memories as I age, but nobody will know exactly how my bride looked from my vantage point as we spoke our vows, how I made her giggle as we prepared to make our reception entrance to the Avengers movie theme, or how she smiled at me while we danced our first dance. And then oh did we dance. The evening may have gotten a little chilly and not everyone that we invited was able to make it, but I don’t think I’d change a thing about my wedding day. It was a fantastic time of celebration and joining together of our two lives, and with that Sydney was officially my partner for life.
The After-the-Wedding Time
Sydney and I took a week off from work, and boy was it a relaxing time. We stayed home and just enjoyed being together as man and wife. The day after our wedding we went to Denny’s for a late breakfast and treated ourselves to finally buying a Nintendo Switch. We spent our week playing Super Smash Bros., Yoshi’s Crafted World, and a game about a mischievous goose. We opened our wedding presents (including the best gift I’ve ever received, you know who you are!). We fixed up our apartment together and ordered in food. We watched movies, slept in, and enjoyed a very welcome break from regular life.
And then we went back to regular life, but this time it was different. We had a new regular, and it was an interesting adjustment. It was fun, no doubt, but there were plenty of challenges and growth opportunities in the last two months. That’s the funniest part. It has only been two months! It is actually a struggle to imagine this not being my life, even though I was living in a different city with my family just a few months ago. Sydney is my home, though, and that is why this has all felt so complete so quickly.
Not that this wasn’t a process. It took us some time to get the home in order, and decorating has gone in waves. Moving boxes were thrown away, walls were decorated, patio set up. Likewise, it has been an interesting time of getting used to living together: discovering each other’s quirks, finding our routine, making time for each other and ourselves. Some may hear the words “process” and “challenges” and imagine that these are code words for terrible times, but now that I have this personal peek into what married life is like, I understand. Marriage is a challenge, but in the way that learning a new task is or exercising is. With growth can come some pain and adjustments, but it’s all ultimately a good thing.
And life with Sydney has been a very, very good thing!
She pushes me to do what I do, but better. She challenges my simplified notions of what it is to love, and allows me opportunities to show her true love as God intends it. She is really, really fun to live with. And on top of all of that, she’s one cute, good-lookin’ woman!
I am thankful: for my fantastic wife, for my life ahead with this wonderful partner by my side, and that I’ve finally written this post and can now write about more trivial matters likes movies and stuff. 🙂
