Surviving

Yes, I am surviving married life. However, that has not been the most difficult part of the last months. When we started planning our wedding over a year ago we had hoped for a nice stress free time. Little did we know what we got ourselves into with heading to Mexico. First of all, after finalizing everything with the travel coordinator, booking the trip and having most of our guests book their trip, the economy decided to take a downturn and head into the current recession. We saw plane tickets that were finalized and non refundable be cut in half by the travel date. Frustrated we continued on though and survived the first struggle. As the wedding neared most would say that the bride and groom are typically the most nervous. I am not sure that was the case with our wedding though and that prize belonged to my father. Just weeks before we all left to head down, the media began picking up its coverage of the border violence and my fathers nerves increased daily as well. He was certain that with the entire family down there together something drastic would happen but all was well and we survived the second roadblock. We would later have a picture taken with a Federali on the beach in our wedding attire to prove that everything was safe in the area. After calming everyone down and making sure that people were still going to get on the plane we headed to the airport the morning of our flight. We started the check in process only to find a screen that said our reservation could not be found. Tired and still sleeping we woke up quickly hoping that we would not have the same problem that my brother had on his honeymoon. Luckily, the airline found the reservation and we could return to our zombie like walk through the airport that morning until security. Little did I know that Carey sabotaged the luggage and we had accidently left our sunblock and sun lotion in our carry on bag when we packed. Thankfully the Richmond airport isnt that big and the TSA security officer allowed us to check the bag back at the ticket counter. Now the checked bag number rose to 4 and we were certain something would not make it to Mexico. 5 Am in the morning and already a number of problems to deal with, what would be next? Our bags made the journey but unfortunately Carey had to have her bags searched in Mexico at customs. We now knew that luck was not on our side for this vacation. Thankfully though, most everything else went off without a hitch and the wedding was beautiful. It wasnt until we got back into the states that we found our last problem to get through. While in Mexico at the end of vacation an influenza pandemic broke and our health was now a concern. Ok, it was never a concern because neither of us were sick or felt sick but it was still another issue. Classmates were asking us if we felt sick, had sick contacts, travelled in Mexico other than the resorts, etc. etc. Our health was never in doubt though and we passed with flying colors. It is through all these little instances of turmoil that I know Carey and I will be able to survive anything with our marraige.

Random Thoughts of the Day: I just wanted to remind everyone that the Swine Flu is an issue but remember that it has only killed a little over 150 people whereas the regular strains of influenza kill more than 30,000 a year. Next random thought deals with Michael Vick. With the recession and everyone losing their jobs, why is it that Michael Vick is able to leave prison and get a job with a construction company right away? Shouldnt we help those who havent messed up first? This guy made millions that have all disappeared and he is now taking a job away right after leaving prison. At the least he should be volunteering or doing community service.