One More Writer

Wow! A mere 4 months and 3 days later, comes now a post on ye olde 'blog! So I have some big news, though I'm sure almost everyone who reads this blog is in the know by now: Valerie and I are getting married! I proposed October 12, exactly 11 months after we officially started dating, but ~14 months after our first date and a good six years since we actually met way back when. We're getting married on December 29th, at a secret military compound somewhere in the western united states. Yup. THIS December 29. As in, 9 days from now.

You know, I thought about putting up the news I was proposing on this site BEFORE I actually did it. Then I'd propose to Valerie and everyone who read the site would have been texting her ... "did he pop the question?" But I wanted to go for the surprise factor and didn't want to be constrained by the set timeline that a post on this site would entail (it would be very hard to keep Valerie in the dark about the news long enough to actually propose.) Some things are best done in person. Which gave me a nice chance to get down on one knee and pop the question on a cold October night on the Oregon Coast.

We're returning to the Coast on the 30th for our honeymoon. I couldn't be more pleased. Mrs. Valerie Reinhard (I can't just say Mrs. Reinhard yet, as it makes me think of my mom) and I will be going to the Shaver's float house for the occasion, and perhaps driving down the 101 for a full tour of the coast. I can't wait.

Since I asked Val, things have been moving quite fast. Preparations have been made, invitations have been sent, tuxes have been rented and a pastor has been found. Final exams passed in a breeze - hopefully that's a good thing instead of a harbinger of failing grades. (I don't think I'm using this word right ... Grace or Dev, one of you should correct me here.) I am ecstatic to be marrying Val. I am just surprised how much getting married is changing so many other facets of life. For instance, my parents are treating me a little differently, and Val's parents are definitely treating us different. It's like marriage gives you a boost into adulthood that neither high school, nor college, nor the first big job nor grad school could ever do.

Now, I'm not saying I'm laying off the Big Gulps at 7-Eleven, the random trips to the casino or the all-night computerfests. But it does make me re-evaluate some of these things, and shuffle my priorities in a way that simply having a wonderful girlfriend does not. Because, Val's gonna be my wife. And that means she comes first before everything except God.

Next post: Brook and Val's new house + what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas is posted on OneMoreWriter + Brook works the criminal justice system for fun and profit.