Last Thursday evening while my husband and I ate dinner we heard a
knock at the door. When Ben is not home I refuse to open the door…to anyone and
everyone. So, this time it was SAFE to do it. We haven’t made an effort and really haven’t had the time to make friends
while living in the city, so a knock at our door is rare…unless we are
expecting someone, and that is rare too. I answered the door to a young couple
that had just moved in. They had come over to introduce themselves. I saw their faces, we exchanged names and BAM
my eyes instantly went to a plate of cookies. We chatted for a bit and Ben came
to join the exchange of names and information. Practical questions were thrown
out; how long have you lived here? Where are you from? What do you do for work?
Their eyes wandered into our living room. Oh, you’re having a baby! Girl, boy?
Name? Exciting!!! YADA, YADA, YADA…then the question: How long have you been
married? Well, let’s see…5 ½ months…AAAND our baby is due ANY DAY.
My first assumption is that THEIR first assumption is…SHOTGUN
WEDDING!
I don’t know why it has been so mortifying for me to wonder
if people think Ben and I had a shotgun wedding. We both know how it went. We
dated for only a year. Ben fell MADLY in love with me and popped the question. We
were engaged for four months and just for my (growing stomach) luck we had already
planned our wedding for June 1st…just two months after we found out
we were expecting. NOT a shotgun wedding. It worked…for us… I have always been a believer in old fashioned ways, and I truly have MAD respect for anyone that accomplishes them. I
believed in waiting until marriage to have sex. I didn’t follow through. I
believed in waiting to be married to move in together. I didn’t follow through.
I believed in being married before conceiving. I OBVIOUSLY did not follow
through. Morals aside, this weekend I realized that I need to EMBRACE all the
choices I have made in the past. I am a wife. I am going to be a mother. My
journey wasn’t the old fashioned way. My journey was what I have made it, by
daily choices that I still make each and every day. I am a lady. I am a good
person. I will proudly tell the next person that asks me how long I have been
married that I have only been married for 7 months, while holding a newborn. And FYI, the cookies were freshly baked chocolate chip oatmeal and were to die for.
