Weddings are for Suckers

I have always loved weddings, even back when Bo and Hope almost did and almost didn’t, then did, then didn’t, then did get married on Days of Our Lives. So it makes sense that when two former students asked to get married on our property, which boasts 11 acres of beauty, it’s hard to say no (but don’t ask because we are not in the business of doing it for everyone!).

Jacob and Lexie were married today on our property in central Illinois and are such great human beings and made for each other, so much that it’s difficult to find a fault in them individually or as a couple. Trust me, I’ve tried.

They are honest and sweet, smart and talented, a dangerous combination in the world against those who don’t like fun and success.

Their families and friends came together on our lawn and they literally tied the knot (a rope tying ceremony was their wedding’s center) and they left smiling and happy and bubbly. It was joyous, and difficult to not trigger memories of my own wedding day and early marriage.

The ones who have been through marriage for a while have no problem giving advice before, during or after your wedding day, but I can’t remember much of the good words now, almost 19 years later.

Weddings and marriages are for suckers though - those who believe every day will be sunshine and lollipops. Sorry, folks, but some anniversaries, like our last one in December, big old #18, your propane goes out and those beautiful 11 acres cannot help you stay warm, so you skip your anniversary dinner filling the propane tanks for $5000 instead and are grateful to have it, have propane, have propane deliverers to bring it to you, and that you know you’re not going to need the “special” dinner anyway, because a lot of them even on not so “special” occasions have been pretty special.

Those suckers who bought the whole Bo and Hope (when she wasn’t kidnapped) love story fell hard into the “that’s how marriage should be” shenanigans of “The Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” serieses which are sponsored by a television station and edit out anything not camera-worthy.

Think of all the not-camera-worthy stuff in our lives. That’s really where the marriage is made, in the mundane, in the skipped “special” anniversary dinners because you need heat more than you need a fancy night out.

After all, it seems like pretty good stuff after all, as long as you can find ways to laugh about your situations when or after they occur.

If you don’t, the fate of your marriage may be at stake.

If you do laugh, you have a significantly greater percentage of joining the rest of us suckers who bought into this marriage thing.

Welcome.