Today is...

the day. the big day. the wedding day. the day that we've been planning for more than a year, that i've been blogging about for days and weeks and months. the day i've been anticipating is finally here. i feel good. i feel great. excited. a bit nervous. but mostly excited. this morning, after sleeping at my parents' house, i woke up early and practiced yoga for about 40 minutes with my friend hannah. the day is beautiful, and the sun crept in through the windows as we centered ourselves in downward dogs and found balance in our tree poses. after yoga and a bit of breakfast, i hopped in the shower and drove off with my mother to elizabeth arden, where my hair was styled and make up brushed on. i just finished lunch and wanted a moment to blog, to be mindful of the day, to remember how i felt, what i did, the day i got married. everyone has been telling me the wedding day goes so fast, that you turn around and you're married. so i take a moment now to cherish the day, and promise to absorb every minute (or most minutes anyways). promise to relax, not worry about any detail, and embrace the day that i have been waiting for.  

Climbing Mount Fuiji

When I was in Japan, toward the end of my time there, I climbed Mt. Fuiji. I hesitated about the hike, worried that it would be too challenging for an unexperienced climber such as myself. And I had heard from many people that Mt. Fuiji was best seen from afar, not close up. And indeed, catching glimpses of this distant, magical mountain from my kitchen window was breathtaking. But the trek up...I wasn't so sure! Nevertheless, I decided to climb it. I was nervous, and not sure how to prepare. I ended up completely overpacking, stuffing everything from shorts to snow pants into my large climbing pack that was meant for adventures that lasted much longer than the one-day and one-night hike up and down the mountain. The overpacking did me more harm than good, as I had to lug it up and down the climb. The hike was hard. But memorable. I remember, in the dead dark of night, facing a particularly steep section with two friends. We each had a flashlight (mine was a headlight, so I had my hands free although I looked a little stupid in the pictures), and literally took the section step by step. Both of my friends weren't American, but had seen Gone With the Wind and were asking me for a Civil War history lesson. I did my best to remember the Gettysburg Address and Reconstruction and so on. Sure enough, we got to the top, and then trekked back down again. It was hard, but it was an amazing, amazing journey.

Craziness

Today, when I was telling a coworker about my upcoming wedding, she said I was so calm considering its immediate proximity. I took it as a compliment, but didn't really believe her. The wedding, I feel, has consumed me. It has taken me whole, swirled me up in the air. I feel like a piece of melted taffy, bending to the whims and desires of this friendly beast. But it's ok, I think, because I look calm on the outside! And until now, I have been (relatively) crazy-free, at least in respect to the wedding. Now, I dream wedding, I eat wedding for breakfast, I think wedding even when I am trying to do pleasure reading, I talk wedding to friends, family, strangers, storekeepers, colleagues...anyone who will lend half an ear. I write wedding in my blog. It has usurped me. Days go by, inching up to the big day. I don't have a calendar where you rip a page off every day, but that's how I feel. I haven't quite calculated how many days it is to W-day, but each morning I wake up and think, "I am one day closer."

What's Left?

That's the new question. Several people have been asking now, "Well, all the planning must be done, right?" I laughed at first--how can everything be done? It doesn't seem like everything will be done until, well, the wedding is over. Sure, I'm not planning on finalizing the seating chart on menu options right before I head down the aisle, but it's hard to imagine the wedding being done before it even starts. But then I think again. A lot has been planned, mapped out, even executed. The place has been reserved, the flower arrangements decided, the food selected, the music vendor picked (although we need to figure out what they'll play), the invitations sent, the DC marriage license secured. Dan has a new suit, I have a new dress, and we both have new bands. Sometimes, when I stop to think about what has happened in the year since we became engaged, my heads spins with unbelievability. So, when people say "It's almost all done right?" I guess it is, when you take a moment to look back. But when I look forward, I think "No, we still have a wedding to go to!"

I'm back

So, I've been a neglectful blogger. Between a new job, a wedding weeks away, it's been hard to find a minute to relax. And when I do, sometimes I want to retreat far away from the wedding thought process. Plus, I put In Treatment on my Blockbuster access queue, and now I am hooked! I've been so neglectful, that I couldn't even remember what the last topic was that I blogged about. But when I logged in this time, and saw that it was "Who's Coming?", I thought "that's perfect." Because between then and now, I have a much better answer. There are have been some surprises either way--some conflicts we didn't know about stopping a few from attending. But there also have been people, who live far away and though we hoped, we didn't think would come. Perhaps the biggest case is my Japanese co-workers, from my days abroad teaching English. Just over the weekend, we learned that in fact one teacher was making the long trip across the Pacific to watch us get married. Today, I found out that another teacher would also be in attendance. I can't tell you how honored I feel that people would travel so far, to a different country 10,000 miles away, to come to our wedding. Truly, truly honored. And as I finish off this e-mail and head to bed, I wonder if there is another reason why my blog posts have been more infrequent than in days past: it's becoming harder and harder to find the right words to describe my feelings. But, as a writer by day and night, I'll try to find the best way to articulate the prewedding intensity!

Who is Coming?

That is the question I ask myself everyday--and my parents, as I continue to call them with this very question on my way home to the metro from work. Who has written their response, sealed the envelop and dropped it in the mail, to arrive at my parents' house a day or three later (depending, of course, on geographic proximity to Washington). At first, the responses were pouring in. One day, we even had nine, which my parents brought to me (it happened to also be the first day of Passover, so they were here for our sedar) and I eagerly ripped open, excited to see who could come, or who had to decline. But after the early flood, the responses have been slower. A few days, there haven't been any. Ususally, though, it's one or two, sometimes more. We're in the mushy middle of the May 5 response deadline, I fear. Cinco de mayo isn't exactly around the corner (everything is relative at this point. At the near end of the wedding planning, there is a ton to accomplish between today and tomorrow), so within the few days, even week, I imagine the slow steady trickle to continue. Then, as with any deadline--for work, school, or play--the pace will pick up, the number of envelopes pushed through my parents' door will skyrocket. And the answers, the yeses and the nos, will be known.

Say Cheese

Last Saturday, on a quintessentially perfect Washington spring day, Dan and I got some engagement photographs taken. As part of the photographer's package, we had a "casual shoot" at the National Arboretum. With the sun shining high in the clear sky and the air filled with the smell of purple lilac, we tried to act natural as the photographer skillfully captured us walking, talking, laughing and kissing (she told us to!!). It felt a little awkward at first to be the focus of the photographer's lens, but slowly we got used to it. Like I said, the stunning environs helped put us at ease. The pictures came out great. And it got me thinking, how cameras can just hold a moment so well, long after the day has passed. I think that's partly why people invest so much in wedding photography, the pictures last a lot longer than the eight hours a wedding does. And so, I've gotten more of an appreciation for photos, and their ability to keep things alive. Last night, my friend Andrea was telling me about her own burgeoning photography and flickr site, making me want to buy my own nice camera and capture everything.