Offical Marriage Report: 2 Months Down, One Eternity to Go

First off, I’d like to apologize for the horrid title of this post. It sounds exactly like something from “Saturday’s Warrior” or from the back of a t-shirt sold at Deseret Book. I didn’t realize it was that cheesy sounding until I re-read it and outwardly cringed a little. But I don’t want to think of a new title, so get used to it. (Keep in mind, however, that I am aware of how “Jack Weyland-esque” it sounds.)

I am officially an old marriage pro. I’ve been a wife for exactly two months now and I feel like some deep reflections/thoughts are in order. Try not to be overwhelmed by the complexity of my intellectual mind. Just kidding.

To me, the most surprising thing about married life is how incredibly not different it is.

I went into this marriage thing figuring I’d probably have to do a lot of adjusting. I assumed it would take me a while to comfortably share a bed, sheepishly reveal how quickly I actually burn through a box of Wheat Thins (seriously, even the family size box rarely resides more than 3 days in my cupboard) and resolutely start folding/putting away my laundry, instead of living out of the clean-clothes pile until it inevitably gets mixed back in with the dirty pile, causing lots of unnecessary wash cycles and the accidental wearing of stained shirts to work.

But surprisingly, married life has been remarkably similar to pre-married life. I get done with work and hang out with Brock just like before; but now I don’t ever have to go home. We wake up and Brock sees me with no makeup; but, for better or worse, that’s been a common sight since about a week into dating. Brock was already aware of my unique dance moves, atrocious driving record and tendency to wake up at 4 am to attend to unfinished business. (That all-important business being a partially watched Bachelor episode, of course.)Plus, our king sized bed could probably comfortable sleep a family of five, Brock eats as many, if not more, Wheat Thins as me and although my laundry habits aren’t yet where they should be, Brock has accepted the fact that for me, the hamper is a suitable and convenient place to store clean jeans. Mostly, I feel like the transition from Miss to Mrs. has been so smooth just because I have the coolest husband in the world, who (for reasons unknown) has fully accepted (even embraced, perhaps) all of my quirks and weird habits. Because I know he loves me no matter what, I haven’t felt the need to hide things, fake things, or hurriedly reform my personality.

This isn’t to say that I find it okay to accept my flaws, using the excuses that “I’m just being true to myself” and “this is just who I am.” I mean, if everyone had this attitude, the world would be ran by toddlers (which it actually kind of is anyway) and nobody would ever progress or improve. I full-well know that I need to continually work on myself and fix those things that bug me, disregarding the fact that I know my husband will love me unconditionally. This is nice to know though.

Basically, I am just really glad that Brock and I have both been so open and upfront with each other from the beginning. It’s not like either of us were harboring any deep dark secrets, or concealing incriminating skeletons in our closets. The shadiest moment of my life thus far was probably when I got caught calling my high school attendance office pretending to be my mom in an attempt to clear a handful (okay, a truckload) of unexcused absences. Unfortunately, I have the most distinct voice in the world and this pathetic act of delinquency cost me the student council election. (Although I still claim it was all “politics”-I won the popular vote, dang it! Just kidding.) Just knowing that Brock knows everything there is to know about me is so comforting. I never have to feel insecure, or worry that if he knew how I really was, he’d feel differently. Some would probably argue that I am too open. I mean, I did squat and pee in the trees by the Provo River on my first date with Brock. Ladylike? Definitely not. But hey, it sure helped break the ice! No “first time acknowledgment that you do this embarrassing, weird thing called going pee” situation there!

Brock has also gradually graced me with all of his finest quirks. Here are some of my favorites. First of all, Brock wraps medical tape around his glasses, to make them fit better. Not the nose bridge part, although that would be funnier and more cliché. He does, however wrap a nice wad around the ear hook part. I just make sure his hair is tucked nicely over it so our social lives are still okay. Apparently this next one is actually quite common, but Brock doesn’t enjoy pizza unless he stacks two pieces, cheese sides together, to make a sandwich. I always tell him it will be gone twice as fast, but apparently he doesn’t care. He is used to finishing his meals a good 45-50 minutes before me. Finally, Brock legitimately, in all seriousness, loves the hit LDS movie “Saturday’s Warrior”. I very regularly overhear him casually singing verses from it. Sometimes he substitutes Jimmy’s name with my own, making it very personal and fun. Ah, there you have it- the real reason for this post’s title. I’m sure my husband will love it.

Why Last Weekend Was Surprisingly Good...

I was not expecting this past weekend to be a good one. But in hindsight, it actually was.

1. Friday started out with a good gym session. Good gym sessions are rare for me these days. My gym attendance has actually been quite consistent lately, mostly due to my dedicated friends who’s company I apparently value much more than an elevated heart rate. I don’t seem to be able to participate in the day’s juicy convo and actually work out in my target fat-burning zone. I end up doing a lot of slow motion “elliptical-ing” and “stretching”. Once in a while some “weight training”. (This consists of me halfheartedly flinging around a 5 pound dumbbell for about 5 minutes. But Friday was different, thanks to a combo of “What About Bob” playing in the cardio cinema, and a certain guilty pleasure song I listened to 5 times on repeat. It may or may not have been by Will Smith. (Okay, I’ll admit it- “Getting Jiggy Wit It” has always been my go-to running song. I kid you not, I once ran 5 miles to that song repeated 13 times.) I stayed for an hour and actually worked up a nice sweat. Which did make necessary a shower before work, but I’m sure my co-workers appreciated it.

2. After work, I paid a visit to Orem’s most reputable chiropractor, Lowry Harris. By reputable, I mean under-the table. This guy literally charges $15 cash/$20 check to basically crack your entire body. And he does a dang good job of it. It’s the weirdest establishment- the guy literally doesn’t have any other employees. I’ve been there twice now- each time, I walked in to find this odd old man standing behind a counter-no receptionist or assistant in sight. He looks kind of like the old guy on the short clip before Toy Story- the guy who plays chess with himself. He handed me some sort of waiver/medical questionnaire but told me he only needed my first name and birthday on it somewhere. Then he started doing all sorts of weird number tricks with the digits in my birthday. Something about adding your age to the year you were born…? I don’t know, I was distracted by the Navajo looking figurines and dead plants decorating the lobby. After the math lesson, he took me back to this creepy little room where he expertly fixed my crooked hip. That part was quicker than the number games at the front desk. I was in and out in 5 minutes tops and my back still feels fantastic.

3. Friday night Brock and I went to Café Rio to celebrate the successful completion of a particularly hard test he’d been studying for/stressing about. Brock is one of those really good, dedicated students who makes studying a priority and won’t take a test until he feels confident with the material. Not surprisingly Brock is one of those students who gets really high test scores, which is saying a lot for some of these accounting classes. (The stuff he studies might as well be in Japanese- I’m just glad there are certain minds out there, Brock’s being one, that can grasp that stuff because I sure can’t. ) When I was in school I took more of the “pray-really-hard-and-have faith” approach… It worked.. sometimes…

4. Saturday afternoon my brave sweet mother decided to do something very daring. She let me highlight her hair. I am in no way trained to do this, but somehow I have managed to teach myself a few tricks and honestly, I am really not too bad. My mom is what I consider to be a perfectionist and I really think she was genuinely pleased. I also got to go to lunch with my mom and my friend Megan who I hadn’t seen in a while. Brick Oven’s salad bar got a run for its money, I’ll tell you that. I think I completed about 4 salad bar trips.

5. On Saturday night, I worked at Magleby’s Restaurant. I’ve worked there on and off (mostly on) for about 4 years now. It’s one of those job’s that emotionally attaches you, or at least it has with me. For some reason I just love working there. It’s probably a combination of fast paced serving shifts that fly by, my absolutely hilarious and awesome co-workers (some of which I’ve been friends with for years) and the great food which I freely partake of throughout my shift. On Saturday, I had the honor of serving Provo’s hottest celeb as of lately: Jimmer Fredette (sp?). I didn’t take a picture, as I wanted to appear cool and aloof to the fact that his name is currently being inserted into scriptures all over facebook. His family was delightful- they were legitimately so witty and funny. Plus, they all ate the buffet which is 1. Hardly any work for me and 2. The priciest thing on the menu. Hello grocery money for a week! I like working weekend nights at Mags, partly just because the extra income is much appreciated, but also because I really do enjoy serving. For some reason the restaurant work is legitimately enjoyable to me. Plus, Brock has now started traveling every weekend with the UVU baseball team, so it distracts me from the fact that I am a temporary widow every weekend. I’d rather work than sit at home watching E channel (I have embarrassingly stayed shockingly current in my viewing of the Kardashians and Holly’s World… eww) and eating a whole loaf of toast (yes, this happened last weekend).

6. Sunday was great. Brock came home and brought his sister Bailey to stay with us for a few days so she can go up to Logan and interview for a leadership scholarship. Between Bailey and Brandy (both of Brock’s sisters) I feel incredibly lucky to have such awesome sister-in-laws. The Sargents are great and have made it so easy for me to feel comfortable and, well… part of the family! I also spent the better part of Sunday evening eating an entire bag of M&Ms. Not an individual bag, not a king size bag. A family size bag. Hmm, sounds like perfect fuel for a gym workout. A good gym workout.