The Marriage Bug

Last November, I sat next to my college friends and watched the first of us get married. We always knew Nate would be the first to go down that path, being devoutly catholic, and there he was. He had brought our little crew together for the first time in 6 years and the night was warm with remembrance and laughter. In a small catholic church in Fairfax, VA I watched my high school prom date stand before his family, friends, and god to take a wife. Yet, even though I was there I still can't believe it. He has a ring, he has a wife, but he can't be married! We're too young for marriage! I half-expected someone to call an end to reccess and the playground union would be forgotten. You know what the problem is? Marriage is for grown-ups....and I don't think anyone really considers themselves an adult. Why would they? Much less fun, anyway.

Aside from the unthinkable reality of marriage at the tender age of 24, there are vastly different views of this union floating around. Nate has always had a beautiful view of marriage. One time in college he leaned over and told me, in that whispered way that truly important things are shared, that the woman he married would complete his soul and better enable him to live a good life and worship god. As a child of divorce, I have a drastically different take on the matter but I have long remembered his words. For some people, even the young, marriage can be a wonderful thing.

Elusive Elocution: A Vexing Vice

Peeves! They get under your skin just a little and suddenly you see them everywhere. What starts as a slight annoyance with un-tucked shirts can warp and swell into a tidy-hemline obsession; until one day you're yelling at one of the "dirty hippies" who don't understand the elegance of a defined waistline. (To be fair, there are numerous waistlines in my life whose sense of mystery I greatly appreciate.) The point is that these things escalate. A few months ago, I noticed that people do not answer the questions they are asked. A yes/no question will be answered with "sure"; a fairly direct informational question about the drive to work will result in a blow-by-blow account of how they woke up that morning. Why is it so hard for people to answer the questions they are asked?

Let's start with the yes/no scenario. A cashier asks if you want a bag...that's a fairly simple yes/no, right? WRONG! Besides the multitudes who must debate the benefits of obtaining said bag, there are those that say "sure". As in: "not really, but to make you happy- yes". I believe a simple "yes" would have sufficed. Why this softening of the answer? Is there a fear that it comes off as an order? Even if it does, so what? Then there's "that's alright" for "no". Does society have such as issue with PC manners of rejection that people can no longer answer such simple questions?

As frustrating as the first scenario is, the run-on explanations of an informational question are exhausting! Example:

-"How was your drive today?"
-"Oh! Well, I woke up this morning late; my alarm clock didn't go off for some reason. Then my hair-dryer shorted out, which is so random 'cause it's new. THEN I found out my cat vomited on the shoes I wanted to wear so I had to go with these old ones which don't really match at all!"

...which tells me absolutely nothing about the drive. People are so eager to discuss the details of their lives that they completely omit the actual information requested. Maybe it's to make you understand the experience better, maybe it's an ingratiating gesture, there may be logic behind it but the overall result at this late phase of my peeve is to make my skin crawl.

Rant complete. Ending wish: for people to learn so enunciate their ideas before my brain explodes from trying to track side-stepping language.