Thursday, May 3, 2012

Postponed Nuptials...


So here we are.  Right from the start let me tell you that this blog doesn't come with any pictures or names (other than me and my Mom!).... I promised to share a particular time in my life, and you have returned to read more  {and hopefully get to know me just a little better.} I'm sure at this point my Mom would be cringing, wishing I would just keep my mouth shut (or stop moving my fingers across the keyboard, as it would be in this instance!) But I'm all about sharing... not for any kind of shock factor.  Rather, to let someone else know in their own times of sadness, disappointment, betrayal, or whatever tough time they may be experiencing that they are not alone.  Someone else has gone through something similar - maybe even worse, or possibly a little better.  Ok... enough stalling.  On with the story...

I was always in love with being in love when I was a teenager.  Always daydreaming of how romantic my soulmate would be... and looking at each cute boy as if maybe he was the one coming for me.  And honestly, I had some very sweet boyfriends... most of whom I look back upon very fondly and would be proud to consider them my friends even today.  But there was one whom I was more than crazy about from the time I was about 10-yrs-old.  We basically grew up together.  So it really shouldn't have been a surprise when we started dating when we were 17.  We were together through our Senior year of high school, and honestly probably missed out on much of the "Senior" experience because we were too serious too fast.  But you can't tell kids anything! Much to our parents horror, he proposed 3 weeks after we graduated high school.  And of course, I said Yes.  Growing up I was always the girlie-girl, and weddings were no different.  I had been buying Brides Magazine for years - longer than Glamour or any of the other magazines teenage girls have to have!  And right away I started planning our perfect wedding.  Of course, if you know me it will not surprise you that my bridesmaids dresses were purple - and there was purple in absolutely everything to do with my wedding.  We scheduled the wedding for about 11 months after we were engaged, so there was a lot of time to plan and prepare.  My life was going to finally be complete.   I'm quite the stubborn personality - I think that's not too surprising to anyone - so there was no talking me into waiting a little longer, being a bit older, or anything...this was what we wanted right then, and in our minds we were grown-ups all the way!  But life has a funny way of showing us sometimes just how different things are than what we might want them to be.  

About 3-4 weeks before our wedding was to happen... after all of the decisions have been made, deposits have all been paid, invitations mailed, dresses have not only been ordered - but have arrived and had all but final fittings... my fiance told me that he wanted to postpone for a year or two.  He definitely didn't want to break up...just wait a little while longer for the wedding.  He pointed out that just maybe we were a little too young to get married and take on so much responsibility. Nothing had to change at all between us... just the wedding date.  Devastation does not even begin to describe what I felt. {It was a little while after all of these events that I found out there was a bit more to the story... that his parents had orchestrated the entire postponement, and had made the offer too enticing for him to pass up... but that's for another blog!}

It was at that time in my life that I saw a side of my Mother that I had never seen before.  I saw the side of her that would one day become my friend.  As a mother of grown children myself now, I know how I would have felt in that same situation.  I'd have done some kind of dance of victory - knowing that my child was too young to understand exactly what they were getting into at such a young age {while at the same time ready to whoop whoever had just broken their heart!}  How unprepared they really were - and just wanting them to have a more realistic view of the decisions they were making at that time.  (And please don't think I am against young marriage - but I also do know that I really did not have a realistic grasp on the decisions I was making!) But my Mom let me lay in my bed and cry my heart out for a couple of days... she let me have my time to mourn the situation.  (During that time she handled all of the cancellations, and she lost quite a bit of money in deposits.  But she never said a word about any of it.) Then after a couple of days she came into my room - she opened the curtains and let the sunshine flood in - and she said "Ok, DonnaKay, you've had enough time to cry about this... Get up!  It's time to find a way to move on."  So we packed up some clothes and went to the beach for a few days!  It was the only time in my life that my Mom and I packed up and went on a trip - just the two of us.  It was early May, and it was very breezy and cool - but we left my hurt behind, and made the best of a few days away.  

I look back on this time in my life and I can't help but smile.  Even though there was the pain of such disappointment, I also have so many good memories, and of course there is the "what if's" that come to my mind.  But I see how this was one of those experiences that molded me in many ways into the strong woman I have become in my life.  And I understand how this boys parents didn't want their young son to jump into marriage at such a tender age. I would have felt the same way when my kids were that age. And there are so many priceless lessons that I've taken from this period in my life.  

Ok... so now you know I was basically a jilted bride!  But I smile at the memories... and I cherish the lessons and growth that they brought to my life.  Most of all I learned that sometimes when bad things happen they can be the best thing for us in the end.