Breathing Again

I truly cannot believe that the "wedding weekend" started almost two weeks ago, already.

In fact, two weeks ago, I was at work at a full-time job and we were waiting for the first guests to come into town.

Part of me wants to spend the next few hours writing up descriptions of the entire weekend: the "End of Times" party at work; the dinner out with my parents and two of the first out-of-town guests; the massive prep day, followed by the casual rehearsal and dinner; the final errands; the "meet and mingle" dinner the night before that went *so* well...

And that's all before the actual wedding day - which was amazing, and about 95% exactly as we'd planned it.

Sure, we tweaked a few things along the way. And a couple of things went just a tiny bit wonky. But we had fun - and our friends and family had fun - and we had fun with all of our friends and family.

*I should mention that this would not have come off so smoothly without some great friends who helped us out immensely. I'm not naming names, but we owe our volunteer day-of coordinator and my groomsmen a ton of thanks for making things happen - as well as owing thanks to the two couples who came early to help set up the tables on the day of.*

I'll try to post a few Pinterest-worthy shots of some of our group handiwork in the next few weeks, but I promise not to bore you with it all.

Last week, we went away to the North Shore of Lake Superior (in other words, we went "Up North" - which apparently is a confusing term for some people), and didn't think about planning. We talked about the great fun, and we discussed the things we need to work on for completion, but we didn't make plans for any of it.

In the middle of it all, I was emailed some of my separation paperwork from my job - but we even put that off until Monday of this week. For a couple of planners, the week of "non-planning" was kind of blissful.

Today I've started the job search in earnest. Not quickly, or scattershot, but a little focused and pensively. I'll admit that I'm having to remind myself to breathe as I do it, instead of rushing forward and tripping myself up.

We learned a lot during our wedding planning (enough that our venue coordinator suggested we should consider doing it professionally), but I think one of the things I learned was that I need to force myself to stop and breathe from time to time.

I have to thank our friend and coordinator for helping me to understand that in the moment. She's the one who told me to just let other people handle things from time to time so I could enjoy the day. Without her, I don't know what the day would have been like - but I do know this photo wouldn't exist (because her recommendation is what prompted Christopher and me to take a breather between photos and the ceremony). 

And now, a deep breath as I plunge back into the job search.