My Second Wedding

About six months ago, Jack mentioned that he wanted to marry me when he grows up. I thought it was adorable and nearly smacked John when he started to explain that it wasn't logistically (never mind ethically) feasible. Every now and then Jack would bring it up, and I happily went along with the scheme. One of my favorite things about being a boy-mom is how Jack thinks of me as a princess. I know the day will come when he wants nothing to do with me, so I'm soaking it all up while I can.

I was not, however, prepared to marry Jack NOW. I always figured he'd outgrow it before it became a reality. But as we were driving home from school last Thursday, Jack informed me that we would be getting married that evening. I tried to dissuade him by explaining I didn't have a white dress - "You can wear your pretty black dress, Mommy" - or that we needed time to prepare a special meal - "We can have strawberries and dumpalings, Mommy" - but he stood firm. He made me a paper crown when we got home and was very excited to fill Daddy in on the news.

To which Daddy replied, "It's illegal to have more than one husband in this country."

Jack looked up at me with enormous, tear-filled blue eyes and said, "But that means I can't marry Mommy."

And then I killed John.

Actually, I said, "Ignore Daddy. I always do." And we proceeded to make wedding preparations.

Fortunately, I was able to convince Jack that Saturday at Aunt Shasha's house would be better. I was already planning to spend the night at Sarah's house on Friday night, so we agreed I could wear one of her dresses. "I'll wear my belt," Jack informed me. (He's convinced that belt=fancy.) He also insisted I wear a tiara, so I dug up a little party crown from a couple New Years Eves ago. Shasha showed Jack a few dress options and he chose the fancy, long dress (which is actually Sarah's prom dress - it's nice to know I haven't grown in seventeen years, and that Sarah never gets rid of anything). With the addition of some vintage beaded flowers, we were ready to begin the ceremony.

"So, uh, what do we do?" I asked Jack.

"First we have the vestibal."

"Right, the vestibal. And what exactly does that entail?"

"A dance party. And cheers-ing."

Once we ascertained that he meant "festival," Shasha brought out her laptop and some glasses, and Jack chose that old wedding classic, Rihanna's "Only Girl in the World," for our dance party. We toasted with water. Jack promised to be a good husband, which entails helping with the cooking, taking care of Will, and going to bed at the same time as me. Then I asked Jack if we should maybe say that we love each other.

Jack put his nose against mine and said, "I love you more than anything, a thousand times."

That kid. I swear, he makes me crazy, but he can be the sweetest boy sometimes. I love watching him grow and change, seeing the way he interacts with the world around him and how curious he is about everything. I know he's only going to get more fun as he gets older, but I also know the day will come all too soon when I wish he still wanted to marry me.

I love you more than anything a thousand times, Jackie. And that's one thing I know will never change.

Things I Love Thursdays: Outlander

Some time during my teenage years, my mom tried to give me a copy of Outlander. She'd loved it and thought I might enjoy it too, which was a reasonable assumption given my love of reading and fantasy. But for whatever reason (Too much history? Not enough magic?), I never made it past the first fifty pages or so. It wasn't until the winter before last, when I was pregnant with Will and living in Montana with Jack and my mom, that I decided to give it another shot. I was immediately sucked into it and couldn't put it down. What can I say, I like history now, and the lack of magic is more than made up for by the presence of this fellow:

Jamie Fraser is completely swoon-worthy in the book, but really, my love for Outlander wasn't complete until I finally got my hands on the DVDs a few weeks ago. I watched the first four episodes at a nice, respectable one-a-night pace, until I couldn't take the suspense anymore and binge-watched the last four in a day and a half. The casting for the show is perfect, and having watched the "extras," which include a segment about the making of the costumes, I'm really impressed with how much trouble they took to make everything historically accurate.

On the one hand, I'm glad I waited until now to watch the show, since I have a much shorter wait for Season 2. But now I have to figure out how I'm going to get my hands on a copy in Peru. There's no way I can wait another year to continue the journey! In the meantime, I plan on reading the sequel to Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, post haste.

Foreign Service Fridays: Some Thoughts on EFM Employment

I finally blogged about something Foreign Service-y today! If you're curious about employment for family members, I link to a couple of interesting posts on the topic, along with my own two cents, over on Most Eligible Family. It's hard to believe we leave for Lima in ten weeks! Eeek!