"It's going to be hard work." Nawl, really?

So, we opened up little registries at Bed Bath and Beyond and Target.  (I might do a little Williams-Sonoma som'n som'n on the side, doe.)

There's just something about deciding upon vacuum cleaners and toasters and towels that make this thing more real.  Like, this is actually going down.  I'm seriously going to marry this guy.

I don't know why the idea of myself, this me that I've always been, getting married is still hard for me to completely grasp.

Like, there is this person, this completely separate entity, a grown man, who is going to be my husband.  A person who, just a year ago, I was still getting to know.  Just a year ago, he was just beginning to enter my world and I, just beginning to enter his.  This same person is now going to be the one I wake up next to every morning.  He's going to be a father to our children.  There's still something about the whole thing that's amazing and unbelievable to me.

I was having a conversation with someone today, and they were like,"Enjoy this time now, because there's hard work ahead to keep it a happy marriage."  I mean, I get that we're still in the so-called "honeymoon phase" or whatever.  I get it.  I'm trying to be realistic about things and keep in mind that we're going to have disagreements, that money is going to be tight, and that things are going to come up that neither of us are prepared for that we're just going to have to roll with.   But can I be honest and say there's something about this "it's going to be hard work" reminder that slightly annoys me?

There's something about this need for "experienced" people to remind me that "it's not going to be all roses all the time" that is kind of patronizing.  I think I'm mature enough to recognize that things aren't always going to be giddily exciting.  Of course it's going to be hard work.  Good Lord, anything that's worth anything usually is.

I realize that many people who say this are usually doing so with good intentions, but part of me is kind of like, okay, just because your honeymoon phase was short-lived doesn't mean that ours has to be.  Just because you got jaded in your marriage because you or your partner stopped putting in the effort doesn't mean the same thing is going to happen to us.  Some people make "reality setting in" out to be something negative, when it really doesn't have to be.

I get that we're less experienced in the institution of marriage compared to those who've been married 10+ years.  But it's not like we're 18-year-olds without a clue to who we are as people, what matters the most to us, or what our goals are in life.

Speaking of the honeymoon phase...we just made reservations at a quaint little inn in a charming Southern town.