My New Years Pep Talk

Over Christmas break, like 89 people I know got engaged.

Not really, but it was a lot. Folks have been dropping like flies around here lately. Facebook is rife with photos of diamond rings. I spend all my time on Pinterest unfollowing wedding boards. And my personal favorite: people have been asking me when I'm "getting a ring for Christmas."

Bleh.

Just when I was pretending to contemplate deleting Facebook (yeah, right) because I was over-saturated with all this nonsense, one of my newly engaged friends, Brittany, asked me to be in her wedding. That's right people, someone trusts me enough to be her bridesmaid. In a dry wedding, no less. And sarcasm aside, I am really excited and honored to support her through this process and celebrate with her and Mike on their wedding day. I wish and pray all the best for them. And as such, I suddenly find myself with a role in all this. I'm no longer derisively watching from the sidelines, wondering what lovey-dovey Facebook post will cause me to lose my lunch next.

It is time for me to accept reality. Welcome to your mid-twenties, Carie Mac. Anne Marie said there must have been something in the Christmas cookies, but the sad fact is that our lives are now wedding season. No, sad is not the right word at all. I don't hate weddings. In fact, I rather enjoy them. My problem is with the unbridled self-absorption we are told that our weddings entitle us to. And I don't just mean the bride (let's be honest, the groom has been socialized from birth to believe his role in the wedding begins and ends with the proposal). I mean the couple's friends and family members too, who suddenly become bossy, opinionated wedding Nazis who make the entire proceeding an orgy of misery and cause everyone to forget why partnership and commitment are pretty breathtaking to begin with. Because who wants to remember what's important when they could be starting World War III over save-the-dates?

So I'm bracing myself for the storm of crazy headed our way. The good news is that being the last to get married (in like thirty years) will afford me plenty of time to research what I do and don't like for my own wedding. Currently the "no thank you" list includes spending money, crying, and engagement photos, and the "yes please" list is simply eloping.

I think I'm in for a wild ride.