ready.

Today is my sweet momma's birthday. This is going to be such a fun year for our family, full of change and big life events. She's basically the glue holding everyone close and making it all happen and making sure we don't spin off.  So be sure and pop by her blog and wish her a happy day! Man, wouldn't it be great if you could always be with the people you love on their birthdays?


So my mom wrote this post last week and I've been thinking about that word a lot.

"Ready."

Am I ready to get married? That's the big question everyone keeps asking me these days. Am I nervous, anxious, excited? Yes! Yes! Heck yes! Do I have any idea what I'm getting myself into? I guess not.

But can you ever really be ready?

Mom says not so much, and I tend to agree with her.
On most things I would say I agree with her.
Even though my voice has sometimes been known to get higher (and louder and more frantic) when we're "discussing" important life stuff on the phone together, I already know, in the end, I'll be agreeing with her.

She's made me ready. As ready as one can claim to be...which is probably not that ready. But still, if I'm ready at all she gets a great big chunk of the credit.
Because she taught me, trained me, prayed for me and for T.J., raised me up.
Because of my parents marriage, a living example of love and commitment to each other, to the family they made, to the vows they said, for better or worse.
Because of all that, I feel ready for this. Well... as ready as I'll ever be.

I can say without a doubt in my heart that I am ready to marry T.J. in the sense that I cannot flippin' wait! I am ready to kiss him at the alter and be under the same roof, in the same house, on the same side of the country. I am ready to do life together as a team. I am ready to make a home,  have adventures, and fall deeper in love with him.

I am ready to be his wife in the sense that I am done missing out on the day to day. The mundane, every day highs and lows, the laundry, the dishes, sharing meals and personal space, dancing in the kitchen, running errands and holding hands. I am ready for all that and for him to be all mine.

Am I ready for how marriage is going to change me, and push me, and move me to grow like everyone says it does? Am I ready for how it's going to reveal things about myself, about T.J., about God, that I couldn't see before?

Probably not as much as I like to think I am. And that's okay, because what would be the fun in that? Knowing what we're "in for" might make us more cautious or even fearful. It might spoil the surprises in store or take away from the joy and the fun of figuring it out as we go along.

And when something comes along that we're not ready for, I know that advice, encouragement, words of wisdom, or a reality check from the folks, are just a phone call away

From mom and dad to mother and father of the bride.
From daughter to soon to be wife.
From friend, to fiance, to soon to be husband.
I guess we're ready.