It's National Kidney Month officially today. Yay! So throughout the month you'll see more posts on the science of kidney disease, treating kidney disease, and living with kidney disease. And most importantly, what you can do to support yourself or anyone you know with chronic kidney problems. Happy Kidney Month!
In another life, this blog would be a food blog. You know the saying, "Eat to live"? Well, I LIVE TO EAT! Growing up, my mom stayed at home with my sisters and me for a few years. And five out of seven nights a week, she made dinner for us. Yes, you read that correctly. My mom cooked dinner for us just about every day until I left for college. It wasn't until I grew up that I learned this practice of cooking dinner every day is uncommon, or even unnatural. But living with kidney disease reaffirmed why it's even more important for me to control what goes into my body. Many people with kidney disease also have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart problems, and mild to severe obesity. And I have to wonder: have I managed to maintain this much energy and health so late in the game of kidney failure because of my diet? People often balk when I tell them that at 26, I cook five days a week, and only allowing myself to cheat on my diet with fast food or restaurant trips on the Saturdays and Sundays. It doesn't work for everyone, but here's five reasons why I do it:
1. Money: It costs 1/4, about $25, of Ben's and my grocery budget to eat a meal at one of our favorite restaurants. I try to budget $100 a week for groceries. It may seem like a large number, but that amount pays for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and dessert for five, sometimes six days a week. Making my lunch at home costs me about $3.50 per day when you break it down. That's HALF of what it would cost to eat at Chipotle ($7/meal) every day.
2. Sodium: The majority of people with kidney disease also have high blood pressure (HBP). HBP is known as the "silent killer." Doctors say one in five people who have HBP don't know they have it, because there are no visible symptoms. Meanwhile, HBP spends years quietly attacking your heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain if left untreated. One way to lower your blood pressure, is to reduce your sodium intake. A while ago I read a book that said the amount of added salt in American food has increased by a whole teaspoon over the last 50 years. Which means, most Americans are eating food that's too salty, they just don't know it because our taste buds have adapted to the increase. The only way to control how much salt is in your food is to...cook it yourself! When we purchase food prepared by someone else, we give control of our diets to another person, and trust them not to poison or kill us. But not every chef knows each person's state of health.
3. I Can Have It My Way: Another easy way to cut back on sodium, I've found, is to cut out as many "processed foods" as you can bare. For the purposes of this blog, processed foods refers to canned soups or bottled sauces, frozen dinners or snacks, box meals like Hamburger Helper, and processed meats like sausages. And there's a whole bunch of other items that would go into this category. Basically, if you're buying something not from the produce aisle and it says anything like "Heat for five minutes and then you have a fabulous dinner or snack!" it would be considered processed. And if you look at the nutrition labels on the backs of these items, you'll see that the makers load all of these types of meals with sodium, sugar, and saturated fat. Now, some things are better out of the bottle. Like Ketchup! But you can actually make ketchup, and all of the other things listed above from scratch, with fresh ingredients, and with half the sodium, fat and sugar content. Amazing right?! Obviously, convenience meals have their place. After a "hell day" at work, sometimes I want nothing more than to warm up some Kraft "blue box" mac n cheese. And I love a good frozen chicken nugget. But I can't eat that stuff every day anymore, unless I want to make myself VOMIT nonstop. Ask Ben.
4. Fun: I don't just cook for myself because I want to stay healthy, but I actually enjoy it. I really do love the process of chopping, mixing, heating and baking--creating--and then finally EATING.
5. Education: I've found that the biggest roadblock to cooking for yourself can simply be lack of know how. I didn't grow up watching my mom cook for my sisters and me. In fact, she usually yelled at us to get out of the kitchen! And I remember the first thing I cooked for Ben-- peanut butter cookies. And they were disgusting. I cried and I cursed and wondered "What went wrong?!" But I didn't give up...because I love eating. But I'm also financially challenged. And I realized that the only way I was ever going to get the amount of food I want, for the amount of money I have, in the way I need it to be made was to put those ca-ca cookies behind me get back into the cooking saddle. I try out new recipes to keep things interesting but also to learn how to do new things.
So if you think I'm pretty strict now, once I have the transplant my diet will go into overdrive. There's a huge list of things I won't be able to eat, or will have to eat in severe moderation. But I stopped huffing and puffing about my diet a long time ago, and have learned to just go with the flow, and treat myself every once in a while.
However, let me be clear: I am NOT someone who thinks cooking for yourself, going vegan, eating completely organic or going on a juice cleanse or whatever extreme, trendy diet you name will prevent you from falling seriously ill. I think SH*T Happens. Life Happens. Sometimes people take all the right vitamins and do all the right stuff and STILL get cancer. And sometimes people eat off the Dollar Menu every day and live until they're 100. I don't believe that a healthy diet like mine or any other can prevent any severe illness. Ask my doctors: I didn't get kidney disease because of something I did or didn't do. But I do believe that making healthier choices about what to eat over time can strengthen the immune system, making it easier for you to fight off and overcome whatever health battles we face in our lifetime.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Wedding Wednesday: February's Over
Ben and I did a lot of stuff last week and over the weekend. But don't worry: it was all a labor of love. The tasks we accomplished involved weeks, even months of research, but it's such a great feeling to know that things are falling into place. Here's a quick rundown of some of the things we checked off our list last week:
"Goin to the chapel:" When I told a friend of mine that Ben and I were finally setting the line up of our wedding music, he asked if we'd be employing that celebrated and classic tune by The Shirelles in the ceremony. It's funny because the place where we're getting married really is a chapel. No doubt that will be playing during the ride up to the ceremony on the wedding day. Instead of that, the night before, my dad (the man from whom I inherited my love for music, specifically classical and jazz) and I did a listening session to find some great songs to play for every part of the ceremony. Now, at the chapel, they have some rules about what kind of music you can play for weddings: they prefer classical or religious, but will give you one or two breaks on contemporary music as long as it's instrumental. For the moms, the bridal party and the recessional, it's all classical. And for my march down the aisle, we're doing a contemporary song. And Ben's dear friend Kyle has agreed to sing during our communion ceremony. For Kyle's song, Ben and I went through a TON of options. We wanted to choose a song that really hit at the heart of how we feel about our faith and the role that it will play in our marriage and lives together. We go to an awesome church near where we live and they always have the BEST music; the worship team performs songs written by other popular Christian groups. We've been going there for over a year so we had a lot of songs to choose from. The tough part: reaching a consensus. Since it's worship music, not every person responds the same way to each song. And Ben and I are so different already, I'm sure it's not a surprise that Ben and I couldn't agree on a song that we liked until...now. I won't be revealing the song that Kyle's singing on here, but it's from the band, Citipointe.
Ceremony....done? Almost! Order that the bridal party is going to walk in on? Check! Music? Check! Marriage workshop? Completed! Communion accessories? Ordered! Readings? Almost done! Vows? Not started. Eh, we're getting there. Ben and I still need to have the discussion about the flow of the vows, so that they're not crazy different. But other than that, after this week, I think it's safe to say we can put the ceremony on the back burner until May when we'll probably make some last minute tweaks.
Upcoming Project-- the Pre-Wedding: Or as most people call it, the rehearsal dinner. We're not going to spend too much time on this portion of the wedding weekend because A) it's going to be very casual; and B) it just naturally shouldn't take 9 months to plan a rehearsal dinner. So the goal is, by March 15 to have a confirmation on tent/table/seating vendors, and food. We already put together a guest list. Once we confirm the other two things we'll get to work on the rehearsal dinner invites. I'm really excited about this aspect of the wedding because Ben's dad has agreed to host it on his property. He has a lot of land and Ben and I are hoping to have a backyard (or is it front yard?) BBQ, with a bonfire. I love bonfires. I think that's one thing I'm really looking forward to about becoming an Ashman: enjoying bonfires. My family doesn't have a pit or much land so I was never able to live out my dream of enjoying bonfires...until now.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit distracted while writing this post. I'm thinking about how this time last year I had no clue that I was about to get proposed to. I'm also thinking about how just a few weeks ago I'd been scared about having my transplant so soon, but then also optimistic that I'd be having it now, at this moment, this week. I'm also thinking about how I really want to just take advantage of every day. When you're planning a wedding everything involves looking ahead to that one day, or the days beyond that one day. Everything I'm doing is so that June 15 will run smoothly and be beautiful and fun and romantic. Sometimes I think, what if I don't make it until June 15? I know that's morbid but come on, this really is a life or death situation and it's not like I'm having these thoughts on purpose because I'm some hipster or trying to come up with material for a good novel. This is my life! These are my thoughts! I think about death and living and the wedding. Growing up, people would focus so much on telling kids to think positive and "turning frowns upside down" that I worry we're avoiding teaching them how to actually DEAL with stuff. The way I deal is to acknowledge that yes, I am scared and I do worry about dying before the wedding. It's OK to have feelings...negative feelings even.
Anyways, with all this focus on June 15, and then my dying/dead kidneys, I've been wanting to take more and more time to just be in the moment of every day. And not even do like a bucket-listy adventure or anything but just enjoy the simple things. Sometimes I do something for the wedding, other times I play "Surprise Kitty" with the cat. And I let myself play it for 15 minutes. I've decided to stop beating myself up if I skip a wedding Wednesday to veg out on the couch with Ben. I'm grateful that I have something to look forward to, whether it's June 15 or Feb. 27, or 28, or March 1. I'm excited for all those days, and every extra day that I get.
"Goin to the chapel:" When I told a friend of mine that Ben and I were finally setting the line up of our wedding music, he asked if we'd be employing that celebrated and classic tune by The Shirelles in the ceremony. It's funny because the place where we're getting married really is a chapel. No doubt that will be playing during the ride up to the ceremony on the wedding day. Instead of that, the night before, my dad (the man from whom I inherited my love for music, specifically classical and jazz) and I did a listening session to find some great songs to play for every part of the ceremony. Now, at the chapel, they have some rules about what kind of music you can play for weddings: they prefer classical or religious, but will give you one or two breaks on contemporary music as long as it's instrumental. For the moms, the bridal party and the recessional, it's all classical. And for my march down the aisle, we're doing a contemporary song. And Ben's dear friend Kyle has agreed to sing during our communion ceremony. For Kyle's song, Ben and I went through a TON of options. We wanted to choose a song that really hit at the heart of how we feel about our faith and the role that it will play in our marriage and lives together. We go to an awesome church near where we live and they always have the BEST music; the worship team performs songs written by other popular Christian groups. We've been going there for over a year so we had a lot of songs to choose from. The tough part: reaching a consensus. Since it's worship music, not every person responds the same way to each song. And Ben and I are so different already, I'm sure it's not a surprise that Ben and I couldn't agree on a song that we liked until...now. I won't be revealing the song that Kyle's singing on here, but it's from the band, Citipointe.
Ceremony....done? Almost! Order that the bridal party is going to walk in on? Check! Music? Check! Marriage workshop? Completed! Communion accessories? Ordered! Readings? Almost done! Vows? Not started. Eh, we're getting there. Ben and I still need to have the discussion about the flow of the vows, so that they're not crazy different. But other than that, after this week, I think it's safe to say we can put the ceremony on the back burner until May when we'll probably make some last minute tweaks.
Upcoming Project-- the Pre-Wedding: Or as most people call it, the rehearsal dinner. We're not going to spend too much time on this portion of the wedding weekend because A) it's going to be very casual; and B) it just naturally shouldn't take 9 months to plan a rehearsal dinner. So the goal is, by March 15 to have a confirmation on tent/table/seating vendors, and food. We already put together a guest list. Once we confirm the other two things we'll get to work on the rehearsal dinner invites. I'm really excited about this aspect of the wedding because Ben's dad has agreed to host it on his property. He has a lot of land and Ben and I are hoping to have a backyard (or is it front yard?) BBQ, with a bonfire. I love bonfires. I think that's one thing I'm really looking forward to about becoming an Ashman: enjoying bonfires. My family doesn't have a pit or much land so I was never able to live out my dream of enjoying bonfires...until now.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit distracted while writing this post. I'm thinking about how this time last year I had no clue that I was about to get proposed to. I'm also thinking about how just a few weeks ago I'd been scared about having my transplant so soon, but then also optimistic that I'd be having it now, at this moment, this week. I'm also thinking about how I really want to just take advantage of every day. When you're planning a wedding everything involves looking ahead to that one day, or the days beyond that one day. Everything I'm doing is so that June 15 will run smoothly and be beautiful and fun and romantic. Sometimes I think, what if I don't make it until June 15? I know that's morbid but come on, this really is a life or death situation and it's not like I'm having these thoughts on purpose because I'm some hipster or trying to come up with material for a good novel. This is my life! These are my thoughts! I think about death and living and the wedding. Growing up, people would focus so much on telling kids to think positive and "turning frowns upside down" that I worry we're avoiding teaching them how to actually DEAL with stuff. The way I deal is to acknowledge that yes, I am scared and I do worry about dying before the wedding. It's OK to have feelings...negative feelings even.
Anyways, with all this focus on June 15, and then my dying/dead kidneys, I've been wanting to take more and more time to just be in the moment of every day. And not even do like a bucket-listy adventure or anything but just enjoy the simple things. Sometimes I do something for the wedding, other times I play "Surprise Kitty" with the cat. And I let myself play it for 15 minutes. I've decided to stop beating myself up if I skip a wedding Wednesday to veg out on the couch with Ben. I'm grateful that I have something to look forward to, whether it's June 15 or Feb. 27, or 28, or March 1. I'm excited for all those days, and every extra day that I get.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Faith By Hearing: New Series!
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. ~ Romans 10:17 (NIV)
Wow, Friday's post was a "Debbie Downer," wasn't it? Well, it was a downer kind of day. Writing that post was pretty therapeutic for me, but I needed something more to pull me out of my death slump. I'm not the type of person who can automatically turn my emotions off when I'm feeling upset. I've had plenty of people command me to just "Smile!" when it looks like I'm not having a good day. As if that will help! Really? Smile?! I'm sorry but that's annoying, and it's not helpful. Living with a chronic illness, I've developed my own coping mechanism. It's called "Pity Party. Pray. Press On." I allow myself to sulk and cry and scream for 24 hours. Then I pray. So Thursday night, after getting the call, I prayed. I asked God for something, anything, to let me know it was going to be OK. My faith was small. I searched around in my heart trying to pull at whatever strands of hope remained and there were barely any. I had just enough faith to beg God to help me, to give me peace again, to take away the fear, to help me KNOW that he will make a way. Then I fell asleep.
The next morning, my eyes opened slowly. I was exhausted again. I couldn't get out of bed, I thought. I didn't want to. I decided to check the Bible App on my phone. This will be unbelievable, but here is what the App said.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
~~ Joshua 1:9
After reading that verse, I was overcome with a flood of emotions. I was shocked, in disbelief that I was really getting an answer to my prayer. I was upset with myself because I almost gave up. I stared at the ceiling. My heart started to beat fast, I felt tears rising to the surface. This time it wasn't an hour of painful sobbing. I shed just a few tears because I was so happy I didn't know how else to express it. I was thankful. I turned to look at the cat, who had been sleeping right next to me. "Burton, God is here. He is here with us!" I said. The cat squinted almost as if to say, "Really? You woke me up to tell me something I already knew?" I jumped out of bed and squeezed the cat until he wiggled out of my arms. "We are going to work today Burton! Everything is going to be OK!"
For the rest of the day, I was encouraged. The lab report from Thursday was bad. My kidney function is down to 7 percent, and because the kidneys aren't filtering as much anymore, I'm a walking, talking tub of toxins and waste. There's no date for my surgery and it sounds like I'm probably going to have to go on dialysis. But I have hope. I'm hoping for something. I don't know what it is. I don't know when it will get here. But when it does arrive, I will be ready, and it will be awesome.
To the readers of this blog, how ever many or how few there may be, if you're going through something right now, I'm want you to know that I understand. It sucks. It's not fair. You just want it to end, but you're not sure when it will. But open your eyes: God is with you. He is here, and He will always be. He is working on your behalf. He is orchestrating something so amazing and beautiful for you that when it is finally revealed you will not be able to believe it, because it will be that magnificent. He loves you. He will see you through. This is His promise, forever.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Intuition
"Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the
conscious level." ~Joyce Brothers
I'd been feeling sleepy...tired...exhausted. Just sitting at my desk was a chore. Keeping my eyes open while sitting at my desk was a struggle. I tugged at every last bit of energy I could to keep myself from doing the unspeakable: falling asleep at my desk. I wanted badly to just lay my head down and rest my eyes. Instead, I got up for my third cup of coffee. Finally, I thought, these years of going to bed at 12:30 A.M. and waking up at 8 A.M. were finally catching up to me. I texted Ben to tell him we needed to change our bedtime schedule. I drank some coffee. I felt like I was going to be sick. Smaller sips, I thought. This has to work.
Lunch time, I had prepared homemade minestrone soup the night before and packed it for lunch. I was starving and looking forward to it. I warmed the soup and took it to my Guild meeting. I ate quietly at the end of the table. Something...was wrong. I was about to vomit. I surpressed it and kept eating. Maybe I didn't heat the soup enough. I finished the bowl and was thankful...I didn't upchuck right at the table.
After Friday's mishap at Lab Corps, I knew I had to go do my lab work anyways. My next appointment wasn't for a month. Why did I think I wouldn't make it until then? Something told me I might not make it until then. I should do my lab work. "I should do my lab work, right?" I said to Ben on Tuesday night. "Sure, babe." "Yeah?" I asked. "Even though the appointment's not for a while. If something's wrong, I think the doctor will call." I was hopeful. But something told me, a tiny voice whispered, the doctor will call.
I woke up on Wednesday morning, nauseated. It was deadline day. I had to get my blood drawn and then go to work to help with the issue. But I felt so sick. Nevermind, I thought. I drank some tea and wrote in my journal. Half an hour passed and I was ready for a shower. There it was again, that nausea. Maybe I'm just hungry. I went to the fridge and ate three pieces of a honeydew that I'd chopped up on Sunday. Surpressed the bile, for a moment. I got dressed and made my breakfast: plain oatmeal with a swirl of mapel syrup, and a tall glass of milk. One of my favorite meals. I read the news on my phone in between scoops of oatmeal. There was the feeling again. What was going on. The cat glared at me while I ate, following the spoon from the bowl to my lips. One more bite, I thought, I can make it through one more bite. I jumped out of my seat and ran to the bathroom, head buried deep into the toilet. It took two minutes for the morning's breakfast, my favorite meal, to leave my body completely through my mouth. I sat on the bathroom floor gasping for air. The cat looked at me from just outside the door, wondering what I was doing. I was wondering the same thing.
I called Ben. "You should work from home today," he said. "I can't. It's deadline day." I had a lab appointment, nonfasting. I had to get something in my stomach quickly. I finished the three tablespoons of oatmeal left in the bowl and headed out the door.
I arrived at Lab Corps around 8 A.M. No wait this time. It was meant to be, I thought. I gave what urine I had and prepared to be drawn. "You nervous?" The nurse asked. Why would she ask that? I've been here many times. "No," I said. I lied. For the first time in years, I was nervous. Ouch! The needle entered my arm. It hurt. For the first time in years, it hurt.
I went to work. I wore a tan blazer with my jeans. My arm was, throbbing. What was going on? I took of my blazer. The gauze was soaked in blood from the draw. Not typical. I removed the gauze and tape and the vein was swollen, bruised. Something's not right. Something hadn't been right, for a while.
I worked from home on Thursday, Feb.21. I wanted to be at home. My phone rang. It was just who I expected. My kidney doctor. "How are you feeling?" He knew I wasn't feeling well. He could tell. My voice cracked, "Tired. And I vomited yesterday." I knew what was coming next. "OK, I got your blood work this morning," he said. It's not good."
By the end of the conversation, my appointment from March 13 had been moved up to Feb. 26 at 9 A.M. The possibility that I'd be able to avoid dialysis before my transplant...gone. Fear, restored. Hope, no where to be seen. The future of everything...uncertain.
I hung up the phone, sat in my apartment alone, and cried until I gave myself a migraine.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Wedding Wednesday: Gettin' Serious and Serious Travel Plans
I have a confession to make: Ben and I haven't been planning the wedding on just Wedding Wednesdays. Because we are now feeling the pressure of a big, expensive event bearing down on us, we've started planning the wedding on Wednesdays, and Tuesdays! I can't believe it myself. For while though, we really did get by with just doing stuff on Wednesdays, and maybe setting up an appointment or meeting with a vendor on a Saturday or Sunday. But that just wasn't cutting it sadly. I say "sadly" because I love this wedding, I'm super excited about getting married, and getting to see a bunch of friends and family members that we haven't seen in a while. But I've been trying to avoid something. I've been trying to avoid losing touch with reality.
It is incredibly easy to get sucked into the hype that this wedding will be thee most important day in my life--the hype that it all has to be perfect and great and sunny, and everyone has to match. And you have to have DIYs and personal touches and enough time for pictures, and good food and open bar and homemade candy or everyone will hate you. And I'll be the first to say that I did it, I...I became a "wedding porn addict." Wedding blog after wedding blog, post after post, picture after picture, Pinterest pin after Pinterest pin. If you've never explored this big world known as the "wedding industrial complex" then you're safe. But if you have, you know how it's so easy to submerge yourself into a universe that is always pretty and always perfect, but so difficult to tear yourself away from being fascinated with...yourself, and what your wedding could be. I know this probably sounds confusing, but in a nutshell, I've been trying to avoid boring people to death with my wedding plans! Oh, thank goodness for this blog where I take one day a week to obsess and write about my flowers and cupcake frosting!
So this week, it's more ceremony stuff. We're getting sheet music together, researching communion items, editing our readings, and working on our personal vows. AND, if I have a spare moment, addressing invitations.
But there's one other thing I haven't talked much about on this blog, and it's a very important thing. Before the month is up, Ben and I will be purchasing our plane tickets for GREECE! Depending on who you are and your outlook on travel and life, you may have reacted to that statement like this:
It's OK. I've gotten that many times. Some background: I LOVE TRAVELING. And throughout our time together, Ben has come to love traveling as well. One of our life missions as a couple is to invest in memories, not materials. We may not ever have the nicest furniture, the biggest house, the most expensive car, or even the fanciest wedding! What we will have is moments at dinner reliving that amazing night we spent in the nicest hotel we've ever stayed at in Maui. Or longing for one of the best tacos from the best little taco shack we've ever eaten at in Monterrey Mexico. And I could probably stay up all night listening to Ben talk about his childhood driving back and forth to Oregon. You're always going to need a new computer, or a new iPhone because they come out with them every year, and we all know the lifespan of those wedding invitations. But things that don't die or need to be repaired are memories of experiences you've had.
Ben and I did a lot of research on potential honeymoon destinations, before we realized how expensive weddings are. After we came to our senses, we decided that Greece was a more realistic destination for us. With equal parts beauty, history and romance, we think it will be a great place to relax and recoup after the wedding.
The reason we've gotten so many surprise reactions to our decision, is because people are worried about us. "What about the economy?" they say. "What about the riots?" I could honestly go on and on and on about why those two things haven't deterred us from going to Greece, and why those two things will probably never stop us from traveling anywhere ever. But I won't. I'll just show you this, the view from the hotel we'll be staying at in Santorini:
And this, the Parthenon, which has survived many good and bad economies I suspect:
Last one:
So basically, we've heard everyone's concerns. We're taking them into consideration, and we're working with an expert to plan a successful and fun honeymoon. And that expert has assured us that we will be OK.
And I suppose if we do get stuck in a riot, what better place to be than on those steps, right? However, I should point out that the picture of the steps is in Santorini. Most of the political action is limited to Athens, the capital. But riots or no riots, Ben and I are looking forward to collecting several memories from our first vacation as husband and wife! The Ashmans...in Greece!
And to be safe, we did purchase vacation insurance in case my new kidney decides that it hates Greece and wants to go back home.
It is incredibly easy to get sucked into the hype that this wedding will be thee most important day in my life--the hype that it all has to be perfect and great and sunny, and everyone has to match. And you have to have DIYs and personal touches and enough time for pictures, and good food and open bar and homemade candy or everyone will hate you. And I'll be the first to say that I did it, I...I became a "wedding porn addict." Wedding blog after wedding blog, post after post, picture after picture, Pinterest pin after Pinterest pin. If you've never explored this big world known as the "wedding industrial complex" then you're safe. But if you have, you know how it's so easy to submerge yourself into a universe that is always pretty and always perfect, but so difficult to tear yourself away from being fascinated with...yourself, and what your wedding could be. I know this probably sounds confusing, but in a nutshell, I've been trying to avoid boring people to death with my wedding plans! Oh, thank goodness for this blog where I take one day a week to obsess and write about my flowers and cupcake frosting!
So this week, it's more ceremony stuff. We're getting sheet music together, researching communion items, editing our readings, and working on our personal vows. AND, if I have a spare moment, addressing invitations.
But there's one other thing I haven't talked much about on this blog, and it's a very important thing. Before the month is up, Ben and I will be purchasing our plane tickets for GREECE! Depending on who you are and your outlook on travel and life, you may have reacted to that statement like this:
It's OK. I've gotten that many times. Some background: I LOVE TRAVELING. And throughout our time together, Ben has come to love traveling as well. One of our life missions as a couple is to invest in memories, not materials. We may not ever have the nicest furniture, the biggest house, the most expensive car, or even the fanciest wedding! What we will have is moments at dinner reliving that amazing night we spent in the nicest hotel we've ever stayed at in Maui. Or longing for one of the best tacos from the best little taco shack we've ever eaten at in Monterrey Mexico. And I could probably stay up all night listening to Ben talk about his childhood driving back and forth to Oregon. You're always going to need a new computer, or a new iPhone because they come out with them every year, and we all know the lifespan of those wedding invitations. But things that don't die or need to be repaired are memories of experiences you've had.
Ben and I did a lot of research on potential honeymoon destinations, before we realized how expensive weddings are. After we came to our senses, we decided that Greece was a more realistic destination for us. With equal parts beauty, history and romance, we think it will be a great place to relax and recoup after the wedding.
The reason we've gotten so many surprise reactions to our decision, is because people are worried about us. "What about the economy?" they say. "What about the riots?" I could honestly go on and on and on about why those two things haven't deterred us from going to Greece, and why those two things will probably never stop us from traveling anywhere ever. But I won't. I'll just show you this, the view from the hotel we'll be staying at in Santorini:
And this, the Parthenon, which has survived many good and bad economies I suspect:
Last one:
And I suppose if we do get stuck in a riot, what better place to be than on those steps, right? However, I should point out that the picture of the steps is in Santorini. Most of the political action is limited to Athens, the capital. But riots or no riots, Ben and I are looking forward to collecting several memories from our first vacation as husband and wife! The Ashmans...in Greece!
And to be safe, we did purchase vacation insurance in case my new kidney decides that it hates Greece and wants to go back home.
