Manufacturing Content

Why?

K lies asleep beside me, her question still ringing in me ears. She asks not because she doesn't know the answer, but rather because she just wants to be reminded and reassured.

Why are we traveling around the world?

For all of her big talk and bravado, K worries a lot about the coming adventure. In the simplest terms, to answer her question directly, we are taking ten months out of our lives in order to really live our lives.

Does it get anymore complicated?  Is there really a need to further justify this little adventure of ours?  I mean, if you are going to put your life on hold for 10 months, seeing the world isn’t such a bad way to go.  What’s the alternative, having a baby?  Same time frame, less responsibility, you decide (please note that I can’t wait to be a Dad and for K to be a Mom – we’ve got names already, try not to steal them).

What are we doing?

But, she is right.  There is more to it than that.  We’ve always called this trip a “learning experience” and a “life changing voyage”.  We are wholly expecting to return with a brand-new pair of (rose, verdant, crystal?) coloured glasses.  And, what’s more, this trip has already changed me in so many ways.  Because of it, I’ve learned to scrimp and save.  I’ve gotten myself into the best shape of my life (whatever that’s worth).  And, I’ve become a better person because of it.

After only the planning stages, I’ve increased my knowledge of the world around me by leaps and bounds.  Go ahead, ask me about Africa – I can finally rhyme off a half-dozen countries on that continent! 

But, but, but…

Oh, sure.  It isn’t all fun and games.  We’re without a home, or a car.  Our comfortable little lives here in O-Town will be put on hold.  Our family and friends won’t see us forever, even as we wean them onto our blogs, and enticed them with promises of photos, postcards and travel opportunities while we’re on the road.

Sure, we’ve put everything we’ve been doing for the last three years into this trip, but it all comes back to the most simple of statements:

We’re traveling around the world for ten months.

See ya.

D.

Mmm…. Cupcakes…

Following the ongoing theme that is being explored in recent posts, here’s another story about why K is an awesome wife.

I found out last Monday that I would need to bring food in for our office Halloween Party, or our “Fright-oriented non-specific, and certainly not satanic, gathering” – for the sensitive.  With every intention of baking, I emailed K at work to ask her for the recipe for this great pumpkin loaf she made a few weeks ago.  I like to don an apron and shmush my hands in floury dough every so often.

So, I get home after work to find her in the middle of cooking up a storm which included puff-pastry topped chicken-pot-pie. Upon further inspection, I noticed that she had cupcakes in the oven, and her mom’s famous home-made icing in the mix-master.

The end result was cupcakes topped with orange-coloured icing and green icing stems sticking out from the centre – little cupcake pumpkins.

“This kicks-ass, K,” I told her.

“Oh, it wasn’t anything special.  The icing was so simple and the cupcakes are routine.  And I really wanted to eat one, so it was a bit selfish of me.”  As it turns out I married a woman for whom making two-dozen cupcakes for my co-workers is a selfish act.

“But they’re soooo good!” I pushed on.  “The icing especially.”

“It’s nothing, I just mixed in a bit of vanilla, lemon, and cinnamon.  You know, regular home-made icing…”

Of course, the first empty tray at the “Fright-oriented non-specific, and certainly not satanic, gathering” held her cupcakes.

D.

iTouch, therefore I am

The award for best present ever, and also winner for coolest gadget ever, is the iPod Touch.  It's giver, the winner of the accompanying "best present giver", is K, whose recent awards, "best wife ever", "best dinner ever", and "wedding planner of the year" was surprised by the award.

"I thought I had a good shot," said K.  "but I knew that I needed something extra to push me over the top.  Then I got the idea to have it engraved.  I think he appreciated it.

D, the gift's recipient, could not be reached directly for comment, but in a released statement said "I can't talk right now, I'm too busy using my iPod Touch to blog while surfing the Internet and making a new mix CD for C, K colleague who keeps me in well stocked with Turbonegro tunes - they're this really kick-ass Norwegian punk-rock band."

D.

A long, long time ago, in a small village far away…

Well, now that the full effect and meaning of the best day of my life has sunk in, there is nothing left to do but look at the photos and reflect.

I remember the moment before the ceremony, waiting in the back room of the restaurant with my parents, K’s parents, and my soon-to-be little sister-in-law, dolling out last-minute instruction and having lovingly hand-made corsages pinned on our garments.  I knew she had arrived – I could hear the media scrum in the main floor below us – and tried to catch a glimpse of her dress, her hair, maybe even her eye.  The minstrel was ready, the bride was here, and everyone was seated with quiet anticipation, getting their tissues ready.

I walked down the isle, following my parents, and followed by K’s.  It was a quick walk, but the seconds stretched as I ran through the memories I shared with each guest I passed.  I savoured it, as I savoured the anticipation of waiting for K to come up the stairs.  There was no stress, no worries, only giddy nerves jumping around in my gut, hoping I would remember my vows amidst K’s radiance. 

I saw the back of her head first, then her dress, and not until she turned the corner, and I had time to take in all of her wedding pageantry, did I see my wife.  We stared at each other, me giving her strength and support as she tried to hold herself together, and her granting me the fortitude to do so.

She is always the most beautiful woman in any room, and I only have eyes for her.  That day, however, she might as well have been the only woman who ever existed.  Her dress was perfect for her, for the day, for the venue.  Her “wedding hair” was a beautiful, natural display.  And her eyes shone with love and elation for the event that had finally, after much planning and toil, come.

Then, after the ceremony, and forever after that, we were husband and wife. 

K, in her eternal eloquence, has already summed up the day to a tee – although she could have gone into a bit more detail about how great she looked.  Her account, including photos from our fabulous photographer, is more detailed and better written.  Whether you were a guest or not, it is essential reading.

Thanks to all who made the day special.

D.