Trains, Planes, and Automobiles
This weekend will be a weekend for travel. On Wednesday, Vicki is driving here, so that on Thursday we can both drive back to Buffalo to catch a plane on Friday! We'll be flying to Washington D.C. for my cousin Joel's wedding. So I'll be driving about 6 hours to fly on a plane for about an hour and a half, then flying back on Sunday and taking the train from Buffalo back to Schenectady on Monday... And then I'll drive about an hour from there straight into work. Joy.
This is why I don't like ceremony. Vicki and I disagreed on this earlier in our relationship -- I thought that weddings were stupid and unnecessary, while she (in typical girl fashion :-p) held the institution rather sacred. I've since changed my tune a bit. While I still don't feel that weddings are worth as much fuss as they cause, I respect what they stand for. In any case, my point is that weddings and similar ceremonies are just too much trouble. My mother, as usual, is obsessing over every little detail and generally just worrying too much about everything. With all the stress that my mother inflicts on herself, I'm actually surprised (and thankful) that she is as healthy as she is. On top of all the planning and fussing (which I'll admit, Vicki did most of, because I just... well, don't care about the details), this wedding is just expensive. I'm sure the expense for the immediate families are obviously ridiculous, as Joel's fiancee comes from a fairly well-to-do family. But for me, this wedding is going to cost me upwards of $300 at the end. Around $170 for the plane ticket, at least $65 for clothes (I don't get dressed up often), $50 or so for a gift (which I really need to get soon!), and the hotel room will easily push it over $300. That figure goes even higher with all the miscellaneous expenses. Oh, and I forgot about the price of driving to Buffalo and taking the train back. Sweet!
(Hm. I think I use parenthesis too much. Ah well.)
The entire process just frustrates me. That's a lot of money and a lot of time going into this, from a lot of people. And for what? Marriage, to me, doesn't prove a thing. If you love someone enough to spend the rest of your life with them, then you do, and that's it. Half of marriages in this country don't even last. Love is more than a just piece of paper and a promise. All this pomp is just over the top.
It probably won't be too long before I'm headed down that road myself. How much money do I need to spend in order to prove my love? That's what it seems like things have come down to. If I buy cubic zirconia instead of a real diamond, does that mean my love is as fake as the stone? I don't think so. Thing is, I know that when I go to take that step, I'll go against everything I said here and buy something unreasonably expensive.
I guess that's love.
This is why I don't like ceremony. Vicki and I disagreed on this earlier in our relationship -- I thought that weddings were stupid and unnecessary, while she (in typical girl fashion :-p) held the institution rather sacred. I've since changed my tune a bit. While I still don't feel that weddings are worth as much fuss as they cause, I respect what they stand for. In any case, my point is that weddings and similar ceremonies are just too much trouble. My mother, as usual, is obsessing over every little detail and generally just worrying too much about everything. With all the stress that my mother inflicts on herself, I'm actually surprised (and thankful) that she is as healthy as she is. On top of all the planning and fussing (which I'll admit, Vicki did most of, because I just... well, don't care about the details), this wedding is just expensive. I'm sure the expense for the immediate families are obviously ridiculous, as Joel's fiancee comes from a fairly well-to-do family. But for me, this wedding is going to cost me upwards of $300 at the end. Around $170 for the plane ticket, at least $65 for clothes (I don't get dressed up often), $50 or so for a gift (which I really need to get soon!), and the hotel room will easily push it over $300. That figure goes even higher with all the miscellaneous expenses. Oh, and I forgot about the price of driving to Buffalo and taking the train back. Sweet!
(Hm. I think I use parenthesis too much. Ah well.)
The entire process just frustrates me. That's a lot of money and a lot of time going into this, from a lot of people. And for what? Marriage, to me, doesn't prove a thing. If you love someone enough to spend the rest of your life with them, then you do, and that's it. Half of marriages in this country don't even last. Love is more than a just piece of paper and a promise. All this pomp is just over the top.
It probably won't be too long before I'm headed down that road myself. How much money do I need to spend in order to prove my love? That's what it seems like things have come down to. If I buy cubic zirconia instead of a real diamond, does that mean my love is as fake as the stone? I don't think so. Thing is, I know that when I go to take that step, I'll go against everything I said here and buy something unreasonably expensive.
I guess that's love.
posted by Kultcher at Tuesday, June 14, 2005
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