...there ARE strings attached!

ohh!! sparkly!!On a hot July evening, in front of my parents and my future in-laws and spaghetti, I received my engagement ring.

I was so ecstatic that I forgot to breathe for a few minutes. My mind immediately filled with wedding plans. I looked at the people around me and my new fiancee and glowed.

Little did I know.....that when you receive an engagement ring...and go through with the marriage....you get a brand new sparkly ring, a new husband, AND his family. He gets a less sparkly ring (sorry D, no diamonds in your wedding band!), a new wife, a honey-do list, and YOUR family.

You see, it is true, that when you marry a man you marry his family. visa versa for the woman.

All families have their crazy traditions and oddities, but because you grew up with your family you are used to them. After marriage you get to start all over with a new family. ha ha ha.

Luckily for me I adore my in-laws. A year later, I still question some of their oddities, but I'd do anything for them and have. I am doublely blessed because when I married into D's family I didn't just "adopt" his parents, siblings, and grandparents. Oh no! I married into a mega family. I "adopted" his extended family: aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins twice removed, his cousin's cousins, etc.

yep. all of them.

The beauty and the blessing of it, is that I love them all. I consider each cousin, aunt, uncle, sibling, parent, and grandparent one of my own. truly.

D and I and our families have been through it all. A wedding (loved it but wouldn't do it again), moving away from home, visiting home, last minute party planning, gaining new family members, and losing others.

We rally around each other and get through all of it. I'm proud of that. I am proud to be an "in-law" in D's family...and extended family.

Now....had I truly understood all of D's family craziness...I would have drank more, learned to play pitch sooner, became a counselor, and learned to be a night owl....but they have to learn to deal with my oddities! ; )

-h

p.s. I am sure that D has his own blog entry to write about the CRAZINESS of my household, but that's for another day.