The Countdown Begins

Happy New Year! We celebrated at the Rocket Bar in Chinatown, where I renewed my childhood love of skiball, and played a few rounds of shuffleboard. The clock ticked down toward midnight. The TV was tuned to the ball about to drop in Times Square, and the crowd gathered around beginning the countdown. Soon the ball was released, everyone was shouting "3, 2, 1." Suddenly yells of "Happy New Year" pierced the air, and people began hugging and kissing each other. I took a sip of the cheap beer that was included in my $5 cover charge, and thought "Whoa, it's really 2009." Even though the countdown to the new year had ended with bursts of cheers, the ticking down to our wedding and marriage has really intensified. We're now in the same year of our wedding. I met 2009 with a mix of emotions. There's the pure excitement: By the end of this year, I'll be married! There's the concern: Will everything fall into place before June? There's the nostalgia: This is the last few months of single life. There's the wedding picture still fuzzy: What will our wedding really be like? What will marriage be like? I guess there's only one way to find out: write an "X" on days on the calendar as they pass, slowly count the months, the minutes to the wedding, and see how everything unfolds.