Be forewarned...

Just be forewarned...this is random blog fodder again.  Lately there seems to be a lot of that going around.  Maybe because between homeschool, deal shops, Pilot stuff, being pseudo-sick with this baby (shock and awe because I am not the one to get morning sickness with any of my kids), I don't have time to form coherent extended pieces of dialogue to entertain.  For this I apologize, I should nurture this blog better. 
I swear I am doing the best I can. 
But I was thinking today as I was perusing the photos of a girl I know who recently got married-  beautiful pictures, beautiful landscapes, decorations, cake and wedding party--it was all breathtaking. 

And it got me thinking.

You see when I got married I was 19, and I married the most perfect man because I wanted to-not because of a baby, my parents or any other random thing.  I didn't want to wait, I didn't think I was missing out on anything by marrying someone at the age.  I just knew.  I was ready.  Within a few weeks of meeting Jet Pilot I just knew, I could not imagine living the rest of my days without him.
He was it for me.  And he always will be.
We got engaged the second week in March 2002 and we married 2 weeks later at the Escambia County Courthouse in Pensacola, Fl.  Our honeymoon dinner was Subway Foot long Sandwiches and our "honeymoon" was a night at Motel 6 and a super early check out because we needed to get back to Navy Technical School bright and shiny at 7am.   
Its not that we didn't want a big wedding, I am from Hispanic descent...weddings are like OUR thing.  And Jet Pilot's mom is like a wedding planner without the business card.  She is just awesome at stuff like that.  But I think when Erik and I got engaged we both knew on some level that we were not going to get the church wedding with all the family.  I was set to graduate from Tech School soon and Jet Pilot had graduated and was waiting on transfer orders.  We needed to be married to even have a shot at being stationed in the same place, and even then there was no guarantee that if we were married that we would be stationed together. 
So we did it.  I got permission from my supervisor's to get married and yes I actually had to route paperwork to some high ranking khaki wearing officer to request to get married. 
It was awesome. 
I am proud of that fact. 
Yes I am a weirdo.  I am good with it.
Yet as I sit here and look at these photos I think about how different our ceremonies were, ceremony is a word used very loosely in my case.  Haha.  And I don't think one is any better than the other, I honestly could not imagine myself in a big white dress taking pictures with my little brother and sister (which fyi were still in their pre-teen years when I got married!!).  I think some of our families may feel a lil jipped out of the whole wedding experience but we had receptions in both home states and the party is all most people care about. 
One day I do want to get married in a church, because I love God and I want to recognize our union in a heavenly celestial ever after manner but right now its just not in the cards for us.   When we do get married I don't want many people there...maybe just parents and kids.  When we got married 8 years ago in Florida it was just the 2 of us, and secretly I love that...it was an experience that just the 2 of us shared.  And it will be that way forever.  Just a private time between us.  We laughed and giggled all the way into the courthouse and we were all starry eyed and ecstatic on the way out-it was magical.
Magical. 
So congrats to everyone that gets married in the white dress, limo, snazzy centerpieces and fanfare.  I think those types of weddings are beautiful and fantastic.  And to the couples that roll like we do with fast food wedding dinners and Motel 6 honeymoons...girl...you rock too!! Don't let the dress fool you, because at the end of the day that huge over jeweled thing gets hung up, tables are taken down, decorations put away and all you have left is the memories.  And those are the best part.  Wherever and however they were made.

PERIOD.