Losing Sight of the Big Picture, Albeit Briefly

Remember how I was all proud of the fact that I haven’t hit “the wall” and had a meltdown during this crazy “house” process?

I was all “Look at me, I’m like the Mother Theresa of moving. I am so saintly and angelic and blah blah blah…”

Yeah no. Not anymore.

This weekend, the “weekend of lurrrve”, was extremely productive in Preparation for Casa de TxtingMrDarcy department. So much so that I found myself completely overwhelmed and childish.

Saturday, Army Boy and I got to go through the massive store of furniture, curtains and other home furnishings that my parents saved for this very purpose. After all was said and done, we have a complete house of curtains and a couple of rooms of furniture. It was amazing to see the drape-cloths come off piece after piece of gorgeous oak furniture that I vaguely remembered from being a little Brooke, but that had gone into the basement as my parents’ tastes changed over the years. Now it’s all ready to be moved into our first home, where it will fit in perfectly.

Not FIT perfectly. No… but we will figure that part out. We have some big master bedroom furniture.

Yesterday, Valentine’s Day, we did our last day of “big shopping” before the move. We’ll definitely need to pick up odds and ends along the way, but for now our checklist is checked off and our “house fund” is dried up. On the bright side, we now have such vital objects as drinking glasses and a trash can. Boo. Yah.

Somehow, we managed to do a completely intelligent and really mature thing before starting our shopping marathon: We set a time limit. It was a totally subconscious and unintentional thing: Army Boy wanted to go see “Sherlock Holmes.” I know. It’s been out since Christmas and I am a terrible girlfriend for not taking him sooner. We found the one theater in this area still playing it, and picked a 3:30pm showing.

By the time 2:50pm rolled around, I was basically on the verge of sitting my ass down in an aisle at Target, throwing my hands up and saying “I’m done! No more! My brain is TOAST.” What. It’s what you DO at Target. Or so says the 95 zillion kids that were apparently brought there yesterday for the express purpose of throwing violent tantrums.

And then we had to leave. So yay.

We made our purchases, got in the car, and drove to the theater. Which we got lost looking for because I may have gotten directions from a source that rhymes with “Moogle Gaps” (yup, I’m subtle.) that insisted we get off at an exit that doesn’t effing exist anymore. Thank gawd for Army Boy’s GPS.

Anyway, we got into the theater as the previews were starting, and between the shopping and the lists and the rushing and the being late, I was verging pretty high on the Pissy Scale. Like, swearing at the length of the concessions line. And giving the Stare of Doom to the clumsy guy who went to take our tickets and OOOPS dropped them on the floor. (Side note: it was deliberate. Totally. We both agreed after the fact.)

As we sat in the darkened theater, sharing a popcorn, I managed to look over at Army Boy.

And WOW. Was he freakin’ adorable. Butterflies in my stomach, let’s-make-out adorable.

That’s when I realized: I hadn’t SEEN him in 3 hours. I’d looked at him. We’d conversed about the items we needed and debated over practicality and price… But in the rushing around, I’d somehow forgotten to enjoy the day, and lost sight of what we were really accomplishing.

We’re building a home together, and though the process might get totally overwhelming at times, I need to keep in mind that I’m moving into a house with a man I’m in love with. I’m not moving into a collection of stuff stuff stuff and chores bills gwah! I can’t let myself forget the fact that somehow, in this crazy life we found our way back together and are writing our love story day by day.

On Valentine’s Day, and our anniversary, it was a needed reminder.

I kept sneaking glances at him for the rest of the movie.

(Another milestone reached today-  this officially marks my 100th post! Hopefully it’s a good one. 😉  )