Life Thoughts

Well folks, two days until the wedding. I can't believe that it has gotten here so soon. I remember when I proposed thinking, "I'll have plenty of time before it gets here", and having similar thoughts in the last few months. Now, all of a sudden, it's almost here. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm getting nervous. It makes me chuckle after a while, like that's what they are supposed to ask me or something. It's almost like that question has replaced, "Hi, how are you?." It just makes me laugh for some reason. I want to just start answering that I'm terrified, just to see what kind of reaction I would get. My answer is that I'm not really nervous at all. The times I do get nervous are when I go to other peoples' weddings. I guess that is when it really starts to sink in and I know that I will be in their spot in not much time. I don't really have any reason to be nervous, other than the general questions everyone has about getting married, being a good husband, etc. etc. I'm marrying my best friend. Who wouldn't want to do that? I'm sure it will begin to sink in more as the time gets closer, and I know I will be on Saturday. It's like any big event (well it's similar), but this is the BIGGEST event of your life, no pressure or anything.

Fortunately everything has gone really smoothly with the wedding so far. Dresses are in, tuxes will be picked up tonight. Cake taken care of, DJ will be good, food lined up, you name it, it's pretty much taken care of or will be taken care of by the time the wedding gets here. That makes it much less stressful for me and a whole lot less for Danielle. She's worked so hard for this wedding. I feel like kind of a slacker compared to her, but I try to do my part.

So, if any of you care, he's a brief breakdown of my last couple days of bachelorhood. Today I'm having lunch with Danielle and swapping cars again. Tonight we round up as many of the guys as possible in the wedding and go get our tuxes. Later tonight will be quality time with none other than the Mr. David Fitzgerald. Tomorrow, I don't really know if there is a definitive plan, but I do know that we have to help move tables at the fire hall, and I believe Will (Danielle's dad) is coming at some point to cut down some old dead trees up at the property, so we'll help out with that too. Tomorrow night is rehearsal plus dinner, and then all the groomsmen, myself, my friend Brian, and possibly Danielle's brother Derek will be spending the night at the Fitzgerald's B&B.

So it's gonna be a busy but fun next couple of days.

Next time I post here, I'll probably be a married man....

Well, I avoided topics of a political nature for a couple posts, so that's a success for me. I follow politics and lots of things political fairly closely I would say. I can't say exactly why for sure, although I just know that I find it quite interesting, and I see what's happening to our country as terribly discouraging sometimes.

I think a lot of my passion for politics springs from the Sept. 11 attacks. I don't really know what happened on that day, but something inside of me just "clicked." From that point on I realized that life isn't really all that worth living if you're not passionate about something. I also realized that I needed to stand up for what I believed, not obnoxiously, but I didn't have to be a doormat either. Those attacks angered and hurt me like not many things in my life have. I guess you could say I have a soft spot for other people. Every time I watch the video feeds from that day, it almost moves me to tears. I guess I just imagine what it must have been like for those people on that day. I also visited the World Trade Center site last year, and it was an incredibly moving experience. I should note that I don't hate anyone for what happened that day, but I think that day was just part of a battle in a giant spiritual war that's raging around us all the time.

See, I believe that there are greater forces at play in the realms of politics and international relations. I find it hard to believe that many muslims hate us just because we're America. I believe a lot of it is spiritual. We are hated throughout the world, A) because we were founded on Christian principles, and B) because of our staunch support for Israel - God's chosen people.

Unlike many people, I don't believe that those who follow Allah follow the same God I do. It's just not possible. There are quote from the Quaran that specifically talk about Allah not being a trinity and that he has no son. So that pretty much answers that debate right there. I think it's funny how the news says Islam is so peaceful too. I'm sure there are many peaceful Muslims, but the plain truth is that radical Islam is growing like wildfire, and it is definitely a threat to life as we know it.

I watch what's happening in our country, our complete lack of a moral compass, the way judges change the law to fit their agenda, the rise of the homosexual agenda, the way we through away human life before it even has a chance to be born, and the list goes on and on, and it's quite disturbing. Also disturbing to me is that people with good morals and values don't take a stand to be heard. Seems that those with crazy "values" are the ones who make the most noise, and, therefore get heard the best.

I will have to go into more detail later. But all I can say is take a stand for what you believe in, whether it's popular or not.

This last weekend was quite a busy one, but I'm sure that it will be nothing compared to these next two coming up.

Friday night was spent hanging out with my cousin Cody and doing some DD'ing for friends of ours, which wasn't too bad since we made some cash from the deal. So that made for a pretty late evening, but it was worth it. We pretty much vegged out and watched tv and played video games - you know, guy stuff.

Saturday was a busy day. I was awoken by a knock on the door at around 9 in the morning, and there was a little old lady standing at the door with a Bible. Thinking she was from a local church, I figured I would at least humor her for a while. She even quoted some good verses, and I was like, "This is a cool idea." Turn out the lady was a Jehovah's witness. I have nothing against Jehovah's witnesses - two of my very good friends belong to them. I just don't exactly agree with everythingn they believe. I'd like to know more of what they believe actually. So if anyone knows, please fill me in. But I digress, after being woken up, my dad called for me to help with the assemby of his new grill.

I first had to clean the apartment up. I'm trying to be like Danielle and keep things neat and tidy all the time. I'm not very good at it, but I'm getting better. So I finished cleaning and went up to the house. The grill wasn't too hard to get all together - it came 95% preassembled. It's amazing. It has something like 600+ square inches of cooking space. It seems to be well-designed and just looks cool.

So we finished that little project, and then I helped mow the lawn. After those little tasks were done, I went back to the apartment to wait for Danielle. When she got there we unloaded what will be on the last Explorer-fulls of her stuff into the apartment. Then we went to one of our favorite dining spots - the University Club. I highly recommend it to anyone in the Mansfield area. Get the Pitcher - it's delicious.

We hung out for a while, and then went to Cody's graduation, which was a lot of fun, except for the people who were behind us that were really rude and wouldn't shut up the whole time. But we had a good time.

Yesterday we mowed the wedding location in the morning. That took us about a good hours plus by the time it was all done. In the afternoon we went to a family party for Cody at his house. Then we saw the Stepford Wives last night, which wasn't too bad. It's different, and it's a strange concept, but it wasn't nearly as bad as what some of the critics are saying.

Well there is a wrapup of the weekend.