Technological Dark Ages

There’s nothing quite like living in small town, rural United States.  There are many things that feel backwards and out of date, but there’s one thing above all that makes me feel truly out of touch with society.

There is a telecommunications company here that has a monopoly of the rural areas here.  It’s a small place, and they overcharge for everything.   But what gets me is the cell phones.  Most of the civilized world now has cell phones, and the market for them is an unbelievable place.  New phones come out every week it seems, and the competition forces phones to just get better and better.

The wedding

Here's the first live shot of us after our wedding!

These shots were done at the reception at the cake cutting!

We are now newlyweds, Mr Dan and Lisa Bonser!!!!!

Divorce Rates

There is absolutely nothing quite like the stress of a wedding.  Many folks decided that for their second, they will elope, because the stress of their first wedding was horrid.  Fact is, there are many ways to get past the stress, or at least to cope.  The best way?  Be sure you are marrying the right person for the right reasons.

Seems like a simple thing to say, but if two people are truly happy, and truly compatible, then the stress coming up to the wedding will be minimized by tons.  Even though there is stress, and sometimes Lisa gets a little stressed out, we can both look at each other, say our code word, and step back to take a breath.

Many marriages end in divorce for an extremely simple reason...the two people weren’t compatible, and wrong about being in love.  I in no way try to hide the fact that I was in a few failed relationships in my life.  Each one, it was pretty obvious early on that there were issues that would eventually break us up.  But I foraged on, because I didn’t want to give up.

But at some point, you have to realize that there is something simple about just being in love, and being loved in return.  My prior relationships never had that.  It was a struggle, and none of them were meant to be.  It seems obvious when you tell the stories of failed relationships, but living them is far different than telling the story of them.

The one major thing I’ve learned about past relationships is recognizing where I made the mistakes, and being worried about making them again.  Even though you promise yourself you won’t, you still will, because you can’t lose your own failings and shortcomings.  My biggest issue was I tried to hard instead of allowing myself to realize that it was time to let go and move on.

And the best part about past relationships, is that they are in the past.  And one day, in the present, you can find the happiness you didn’t back then.  Like me.  I know this will be a great marriage, because Lisa and I aren’t getting uptight about the wedding.  We agree on just about everything, and compromise on everything else without issue.

And that’s the measure that I see as figuring out what is the best in the relationship.  I’m honestly glad I went through those relationships in the past.  Because I know that even though I made mistakes, I knew I did the right thing.  In those relationships, getting married came up, but I was always the first to say, “This relationship isn’t marriage material yet.”  Or at least something to that tune.  A major thing I learned was seeing the signs that something wasn’t quite working out.

And this one, those signs aren’t there.  This is working out, and as we are getting married...in exactly 47 hours after this blog post goes live, I can see how well its going to work out.  There’s something amazing about being truly happy, and not having any reservations at all.  For the first time in my life, I’m not struggling to keep love, or to stay in love, or against someone who is destroying the relationship with their actions.  I’m truly just enjoying the ride, with my perfect partner.

Life with Lisa Bonser has already been the greatest time of my life.  Here’s to long life, and happiness with my new wife! *raises a glass in toast*

The Week of the Wedding.

Here we are, and I’m getting married this very week.  And we’ve definitely had to deal with life trying to get in the way, in oh so many ways.  But the main thing is, we have persevered through it all, and everything is still going as planned.

I’ll definitely make a blog about it in the future, but we actually lost the venue.  Along with everything else, its built up to a very interesting list of things that have tried to stop us.  And the best thing about it all, is that I’ve told Lisa that many things would try.  Everything that is good in life, always seems to be countered by something bad.

Phillip, the best man, came in on Saturday, and we’ve been hanging out and really just mellowed everything out with the extra help.  We’ve gotten about 90% of the stuff done we can do before hand done, and been able to do a bit more cleaning to prepare for all my friends coming over.

Fact is, I’m excited.  And I have every right to be.  I don’t get to see my friends that often, and the fact they are coming to see me, some I haven’t seen in quite some time.  It makes me realize how momentous an occasion this truly is.  Its humbling in many many ways.

In the end, its all trucking along extremely well, no matter what all goes wrong.  When my father had a run in with medical issues recently, I knew that he’d have kicked himself if he’d have messed up the wedding.  Even though it was touch and go for awhile, as far as figuring out whether to abandon plans or not...I knew that he’d so mad if we’d have postponed anything, so we kept going.

I’d go into the venue issue now, but that will definitely be another blog, because it deserves a full treatment and I’m not giving in to my anger right now, because we are making the best of every bad situation that arises.  This has definitely been an adventure, and I’d recommend it to anyone who might someday find true love.  Lisa and I have been on the same page just about every step of the way, and those times we have been at odds, we quickly found the middle.  Yeah, this is going to be an amazing week, followed by me marrying an amazing woman.  I know for a fact, that I’ve never been happier than I’ve ever been right now.  And it just keeps getting better.

I just hope soon we’ll find a place to put all the wedding favor bags so we can play pool. *sigh* Time to start looking for good places....

–Dan

(poem) - Valentines Day 2013

I know exactly
What some people say
The card companies got together
And made up Valintines Day

Fact is I don’t care
Because the day has a wonderful vibe
Knowing love is in the air
Makes life worth the ride

Every day I wake up
And try to make her know I love her
But on Valintines Day
The effort is a blur

There are cards and gifts
In all the stores
All begging you to buy
All the more

The best day
Is the day after
When its all half off
Which causes me much laughter

But the day itself
Is a wonderful day
And I’ll show that I love her
In every single way

The weekend that follows
Will be full of fun
Because we will go out walking
Under the bright sun

And I will profess
My love to her
For she is my world
And there’ll not be another

She will smile
And we will kiss
We will be married
And know such bliss

For she is my love
My lover and friend
And will forever be
Beyond whatever end.

--Dan

--Want more Poetry?  Check out my Poetry Collection Page!