Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Bairn
Yesterday my mom brought me to the yarn store and bought me this beautiful yarn for a baby sweater. I love it. The pattern is Bairn, which is a sort of companion sweater to Hatchling (same designer, similar construction), so that makes me happy. The twins will have sweaters that "go together" without being matchy-matchy. The yarn is (of course) Tosh and the color is Worn Denim. I had been eyeballing skeins of this stuff before we found out the genders and hoping that at least one of them was a boy so I could but it.
Keith got me A Handful of Dust last Christmas and I am enjoying it quite a bit. It's a quick read, very bright and British, although of course the characters are misbehaving and making themselves unhappy, as Waugh's characters tend to do. (I'm not really sure why there's a maid bringing in tea on the cover? I suppose because the characters are somewhat upper crust. It could be worse.)
I brought both book and knitting with me to get my glucose test this morning. I didn't read very much because the TV in the waiting room was blaring "The Price is Right," but as I knit I watched an elderly couple come in to get the man's blood drawn. Afterwards his wife helped him button up his sleeve, and held his cane while she helped him get his jacket back on. When she glanced at the TV she exclaimed, "Hey look! They're advertising Ensure! Look at that!" And he, patting down his pockets, said, "I can't look, I'm busy looking for my keys." They were making their way out the door when she realized she was still holding his cane, and turned with a laugh to give it to him, and he smiled. Their sense of humor and the fact they still enjoyed each other's company was so clear. It made me smile. I hope and pray that Keith and I are given the opportunity to grow old together, and that we do it as gracefully as that couple.
Linking up once more with Ginny.
Monday, May 16, 2011
A Wave of Weddings
Early on Friday morning, after a busy week of teaching and grading and getting my wedding dress fitted (!!) and sundry other tasks, I will pack up my things and head off to Philadelphia for my cousin's wedding.
Now, Theresa is a few years younger than me, but she is beating me to the altar by a little less than two months. I am okay with this. ;) The crazy thing is that our other cousin, Genevieve, just entered the convent last month for her three-month discernment period.
Of course, the youngest of the lady-cousins, Regina (Genevieve's sister), has us all beat: she entered the convent in 2008 and was invested as a novice last July.
But now the remaining three of us are going down with one fell swoop, so to speak. Walking into our lives, following the footsteps of Christ into our vocations as women.
I have this feeling that going to Theresa's wedding is going to make the eight weeks until my own feel very, very long. But it has been such a gift, the two of us being able to share this time of preparation together. And I am so joyful for her, and cannot wait to stand by her as she makes the vows that will transform her life.
(I think I intended to say much more here, but the things are too big and near yet, and I have a class to plan.)
Now, Theresa is a few years younger than me, but she is beating me to the altar by a little less than two months. I am okay with this. ;) The crazy thing is that our other cousin, Genevieve, just entered the convent last month for her three-month discernment period.
Of course, the youngest of the lady-cousins, Regina (Genevieve's sister), has us all beat: she entered the convent in 2008 and was invested as a novice last July.
But now the remaining three of us are going down with one fell swoop, so to speak. Walking into our lives, following the footsteps of Christ into our vocations as women.
I have this feeling that going to Theresa's wedding is going to make the eight weeks until my own feel very, very long. But it has been such a gift, the two of us being able to share this time of preparation together. And I am so joyful for her, and cannot wait to stand by her as she makes the vows that will transform her life.
(I think I intended to say much more here, but the things are too big and near yet, and I have a class to plan.)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Making it Real
Keith and I signed a lease on an apartment this week.
We're pretty happy. It's a two bedroom, like we wanted; it's in the neighborhood we wanted; the only less-than-ideal thing is that the lease starts May 1*, which means we could possibly be paying rent on three places in May.
I'm hoping to find someone to sublet my current apartment, though. I'll be moving back up with my parents sometime in late May; my stuff (half of which is actually Keith's stuff, really, which is ultimately a moot point anyways since it is soon no longer "mine" and "his" but "ours") will go into the new apartment and wait for us there.
It's crazy, really. You have all these images of being married, and even though the reality will be different, now there's a place for those images to inhabit. I have these moments where I picture the Fiestaware sugar bowl on the counter, our coats in the closet, our towels (courtesy of the bridal shower!) in the bathroom.
And there is something sacred about that space, and those things in it. The makings of our life together, of the home it shall become.
*Well, that and the carpet color. And the weeeeird mirror thing in the living room. But that's what life's adventures are made of!
We're pretty happy. It's a two bedroom, like we wanted; it's in the neighborhood we wanted; the only less-than-ideal thing is that the lease starts May 1*, which means we could possibly be paying rent on three places in May.
I'm hoping to find someone to sublet my current apartment, though. I'll be moving back up with my parents sometime in late May; my stuff (half of which is actually Keith's stuff, really, which is ultimately a moot point anyways since it is soon no longer "mine" and "his" but "ours") will go into the new apartment and wait for us there.
It's crazy, really. You have all these images of being married, and even though the reality will be different, now there's a place for those images to inhabit. I have these moments where I picture the Fiestaware sugar bowl on the counter, our coats in the closet, our towels (courtesy of the bridal shower!) in the bathroom.
And there is something sacred about that space, and those things in it. The makings of our life together, of the home it shall become.
*Well, that and the carpet color. And the weeeeird mirror thing in the living room. But that's what life's adventures are made of!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
On Being Sandpaper
This is the third day in a row that I haven't seen Keith ... he's been shut up in Tilbury with the sickness that's been taking people out one by one: my roommate, various members of my program, a few others at the Newman Center. So far, somehow, I haven't gotten it. Hopefully it stays that way ... but I miss my fiance. A lot.
For whatever reason, I've been in A Mood the past week. (Or if I'm honest, it's probably been a little longer than that.) Not that I'm walking around with a cloud over my head, but I kindle at the slightest spark and can become a less-than-pleasant person to interact with over certain things.
It's actually pretty humbling.
I was talking to an old dear friend in MI who is getting married two weeks before me this summer--a beautiful conversation. Engagement is such an interesting place to live in: a waiting place, but also a present moment; your relationship isn't yet what it will be, and yet it has changed, is changing.
There are certain places where I know I need to grow if I'm going to be a good wife, and so my instinct is to hurry up and grow already, before July 16th. Get holy now. And while the desire to works towards the qualities and virtues that will make me a good wife is not a bad one, obviously, I feel that sometimes the impetus behind my sense of urgency is more pride than anything.
I have a lot to learn about marriage, and I know I won't learn most of it til after I'm in it. But I do know that marriage is about the sanctification of both spouses; and ultimately, that holiness and the ability to be a good wife is a matter of grace of state (which comes with the sacrament, not before) and practice (which I can get some of now, to be sure, but I will have LOTS more of it after getting married).
And here's the pride bit. I am perfectly willing to accept that my fiance will have flaws and weaknesses, some of which I won't discover til after we're married. But the thought of him putting up with my imperfections? Ooooh, that's tough. And if they're starting to come out now, how much more will he see after we're married?
But that is part of the gift given in marriage: a self that is, among other things, sinful and broken. The key is to give and receive with open eyes and clear sight. To know that sometimes we will be sandpaper to each other rather than silk, and those are the days when the rough edges can be smoothed away, so we're made smooth and perfect.
For whatever reason, I've been in A Mood the past week. (Or if I'm honest, it's probably been a little longer than that.) Not that I'm walking around with a cloud over my head, but I kindle at the slightest spark and can become a less-than-pleasant person to interact with over certain things.
It's actually pretty humbling.
I was talking to an old dear friend in MI who is getting married two weeks before me this summer--a beautiful conversation. Engagement is such an interesting place to live in: a waiting place, but also a present moment; your relationship isn't yet what it will be, and yet it has changed, is changing.
There are certain places where I know I need to grow if I'm going to be a good wife, and so my instinct is to hurry up and grow already, before July 16th. Get holy now. And while the desire to works towards the qualities and virtues that will make me a good wife is not a bad one, obviously, I feel that sometimes the impetus behind my sense of urgency is more pride than anything.
I have a lot to learn about marriage, and I know I won't learn most of it til after I'm in it. But I do know that marriage is about the sanctification of both spouses; and ultimately, that holiness and the ability to be a good wife is a matter of grace of state (which comes with the sacrament, not before) and practice (which I can get some of now, to be sure, but I will have LOTS more of it after getting married).
And here's the pride bit. I am perfectly willing to accept that my fiance will have flaws and weaknesses, some of which I won't discover til after we're married. But the thought of him putting up with my imperfections? Ooooh, that's tough. And if they're starting to come out now, how much more will he see after we're married?
But that is part of the gift given in marriage: a self that is, among other things, sinful and broken. The key is to give and receive with open eyes and clear sight. To know that sometimes we will be sandpaper to each other rather than silk, and those are the days when the rough edges can be smoothed away, so we're made smooth and perfect.
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