What, Me Married?

I guess it happens to the best of us eventually...we give in to societal pressure and embrace "tradition" for the sake of pleasing family, the government, or whomever. But for years I avoided the M word, and loved nothing more than to bust out this quote from an old movie (I think it was with Myrna Loy?): "Marriage is a great institution - but who wants to be in an institution?"

Har har har. Very funny indeed. And now I have to eat my hat - or my bridal veil, or whatever - because here I am joining the millions, no BILLIONS, who have already been served by the wonderful institution of McMarriage (served or brainwashed? you make the call).

Perhaps you think I doth protest too much. But this really has been a tough decision for me. NOT because of anything to do with the person who will be my "spouse" (every time I hear that word I think of The Game of Life, with those little pink and blue pegs, and little cars you drove around in, trying to be the first to acquire money, a house, and finally a "spouse." It always sounded like a rather spongy sort of pet to me).

No, nothing to do with him. But just, you know, the feeling of joining a club that I feel pressured to join. Maybe it's the rebel in me that resists this notion. I don't know. (This is probably more appropriate for therapy than for a blog, but I can't afford therapy right now, so bear with me.) Or maybe it's something to do with the fact that you can be with another person for years and years, share a bed and a bank account, know eachother inside and out, love and hate eachother in equal measure, see eachother through thick and thin (literally) - but until you're given the official stamp of marriage, you are not taken seriously as a couple by a large number of people, because you haven't made a "real commitment yet."

Huh?? I think it's the illogic in that equation which makes me bristle - especially since I have seen firsthand so many official "marriages" that are about as committed as the weather in San Francisco. But anyway...where was I? Oh yes, I'm finally getting married. And of course, in keeping with my generally obsessive nature, I am making a big deal out of not making a big deal out of it. What's most important of course is that there will be a party, people will get drunk, friends will gather and a good time will be be had by all. And when I wake up the next morning, I will still be me and he will still be he - the biggest difference being that we will never again have to hear someone say, "When are you getting married?" (And hopefully they will refrain as well from asking, "So when's the divorce?")