Holy cow, the wedding day is finally here! It is hard to believe it was just a year ago that I got down on one knee and popped the question, both because the past year has flown by and crawled at the same time. Because we're out of our minds, we decided to buy a house in the same six month span as the wedding, which more or less consumed our early 2013. But the last six weeks have been down and dirty wedding planning time. With Molly off of work for the summer, she and her mom have planned and replanned and prepped to the point where this day can't go any way but well. I've been saying for the last month that this day just needed to get here. I wasn't nervous or anxious, just tired of the anticipation. I had myself convinced that tomorrow was going to be just like last week. Heck, we already bought a house together, we've lived together for the better part of two years, we fart in front of each other...what would be different besides the new hardware I'd be wearing on my left hand? Let's just get to the party already!
Today my outlook is different. Since I woke up this morning, I feel like I've had an elephant sitting on my chest and a walnut stuck in my throat. A waterfall of emotion has completely crashed on top of me, and I'm doing everything I can to keep it together. I wish I knew how to describe how I'm feeling, but I've never really felt this way before. It most certainly isn't sadness, nor nervousness about whether or not I'm making the right decision. I don't think it is a fear of the new permanence that is about to define our relationship, either. I think it is a combination of pure joy and an overwhelming realization that what I thought probably wasn't ever going to happen is finally happening. Today. Like in six hours. Everything I think about makes my eyes well up, a genetic trait that will mostly likely result in the Colsons zapping the Kleenex supply at Normandale Lutheran.
I think the biggest part is just the anticipation to share the day with Molly. On June 23, 2011, I went to a farmer's market on a rainy day on my third Match.com Internet date of the week. I had talked to the girl online for about a month, and we decided it was probably time to actually see each other in person. I was running late, so my already nervous nervousness was running at full capacity. I pulled up to Centennial Lakes, walked down the stairs of the parking ramp, and got in the face with Life's shovel. I saw a beautiful girl wearing a yellow cardigan with a billion dollar smile and the biggest bluest eyes waiting at the bottom for me. "Jeff? I'm Molly! Nice to finally meet you." That was it. People can debate the existence of true love or love at first sight until they are blue in the face, but I can tell you that at that exact moment, I started picturing today. Even though I had some pretty decent dates earlier in the week, I never returned another phone call, text, or e-mail. I had met the girl I wanted to spend my life with, and I was going to turn every ounce of my energy towards making that a reality. A little over a year later, I hit my mark at that exact same spot surrounded by friends and family, and now a year later we get to make it official at the place it all started.
I love Molly. I do.
Feeling total and complete love,
MR. Jeff Pool
