23 days to go...the stages or reality.

The countdown is on. I mean REALLY on. I cant describe how real it feels.

You see, the first few weeks after we got engaged (December 25th 2006), It became 'real' on a certain level as we formulated our basic vision and tossed around ideas. But the "realness" was comparable to answering "what do you want to be when you grow up?" when you are 5. I mean, its inevitably going to happen, but its such a stretch from the reality you are living in the moment that anything you come up with feels like its all talk.

The next "level" of reality hit the 366 days to go mark (366 because it was a leap year in case anyone forgot). A year is a funny little measurement. Seriously, think about it doesn't seem that long ago, then think about everything that's changed last year. In case you've had a really uneventful year, I'll provide an example. This time a year ago, my brother and his girlfriend were renting an apartment and living as most in their early twenties. Working full time, occasionally going to the bar...fast forward to now, they are engaged, have bought their first house, and she's on mat leave as they have a 2 month old boy! See? lots can change in that little time! So there was definitely some new level of reality a year before the wedding date.

Even bigger was new years. I went from being an "I'm getting married next year" bride to "I'm getting married in 4 months" bride.

The biggest reality level so far was last week when I realized I had 30 days left. We were no longer dealing with years, or months, but DAYS!! (True, we could still use weeks, but it doesn't seem to happen. Its mostly DAYS!).

For the first time I started to understand why people were asking "Nervous yet?" I used to think it was a stupid question that I never quite knew how to answer (Keep in mind, I still had a certain level of inability to comprehend that this was reality and not just planning for a wedding in some alternate universe). I even went so far as to tell people I thought this was the bridal equivalent of the trick question when a girl asks a guy if these pants make me look fat!

Now I'm having a hard time realizing how that would be a trick question because the answer is an overwhelming YES.