We are 16 days away, people. SIXTEEN DAYS. This is not a drill. I will be a married lady this time 16 days from now.
It seems so soon, yet also impossibly far away because I'm so excited. For the most part, the wedding is planned, minus a few last minute to-dos. I ordered table place cards today and my mom left this morning to transport "the dress" back home after she generously offered to drive seven hours to come pick it up. (I don't trust an 11-month-old, 50-pound puppy and an expensive gown to coexist in the backseat of a Prius when we drive home next week.)
I've been so busy finalizing plans, finishing up work for the year, and partaking in any and every Christmas-related festivity that I don't know that it's "hit" me that I'm getting married in 16 days. In reality, we already feel like we're married so maybe I won't have an "oh my gosh, I'm getting married" moment. We'll have a "finally, about time" moment.
We just want to be married already. We may or may not wear our wedding bands around the house every now and then. There is nothing better than watching J do every day tasks, like check the mouse trap, while wearing a wedding ring. And it will be a million times better when he isn't wearing it illegally. (Or, when we don't need a mouse trap.)
The only thing that's "hit" me recently is that my name will change. I decided I would take J's last name after the wedding and it hit me a few weeks ago while I was filling out an online form. (Ok, ok, I was online shopping.) Like, I knew my name would change, but it hadn't sunk in that my name would change. I've spent 32+ years as Lindsay de Castrique. THIRTY-TWO-PLUS YEARS. I remember having to "sing" my last name aloud when learning to spell it in kindergarten because it felt frustratingly long. And in 16 days, I become Lindsay Vivian. I don't even have a song worked out yet for V-I-V-I-A-N.
I know this sounds weird but, to me, the strangest part is that I'll now have a name someone else has. I've always been the only Lindsay de Castrique. Well, actually, deCastrique. I don't have the space in my name like other members of my family. Long story.
In fact, I've never in my life encountered a deCastrique (or de Castrique) to whom I wasn't related. When you google Lindsay deCastrique, it's pretty much all me and then some results about my dad. But, when you google Lindsay Vivian, you get a whole buncha ladies! One of them has her own IMDB page as a makeup artist. Another has published research on Aquatic Vertebrate Predation Threats to the Platte River Caddisfly.
Am I ready for such a world? I don't know crap about Caddisfly.
I guess I'm going to have to work extra hard to stand out in a world full of Lindsay Vivians. But I'm ready for the challenge. And I'll have a handsome, mouse-trap-checking man by my side.
Now, if you'll excuse me. I have to go practice my signature. I've never had a last name that starts with a capital letter before!
