The Parent Rant

Ok. I've gotta ask....what the hell happens to parents when their little boy or girl decides they've met THE ONE and gets engaged? Do their brains just get sucked into some giant vacuum? And I'm not just talking about my parents or my fiance's parents either.....

Two of my friends recently got engaged (about a week ago). I've known both of them individually for several years. They began dating this past December and though I never would have pictured them together before, I know them well enough to realize they make a great couple. I'm not just looking at them through rose colored glasses either. They have their fights, but they seem to be able to work them out rationally. They're a team and deal with outsiders as a team. Until the parents butted in....

His mom is excited for them. VERY excited. So much so that she has the entire ceremony planned down to the rose trellis (which neither the bride nor groom are fond of). Her parents, on the other hand, initially gave their blessing when the couple approached them about getting married but now -- one week after the engagement happened -- they're saying, "Maybe you should wait. Move in together first and do that for a while before you get married." These are the same parents who, years ago when the bride-to-be made the off-handed remark that she wanted to live with a potential spouse before marrying him, said that living together wasn't the same thing. It was pretending to be married because there was no commitment. HUH???

I'm telling ya....parents just go bonkers when their kids show up with a ring on that left hand.

Take my parents for example. I called them up a few weeks ago to make sure I hadn't forgotten anyone when we drew up our guest list. Instead of adding people to the list, my Dad started cutting people -- his own family members! We're not talking distant cousins I've never met either....he uninvited his great-niece that I grew up with. His reasoning? "She didn't invite you to her wedding." Um Dad, hate to be the one to give you this news flash, but she didn't invite ANYONE to her wedding -- not even her own parents. She got married at the courthouse!

And my Mom....bless her heart....has other issues that I'll talk about in another post at some point. When I called the night I got engaged to tell her, her response was, "Oh, uh-huh? That's nice dear." Gotta admit...wasn't really expecting that one. I thought I'd at least get an, "I'm so happy for you," or a, "Congratulations!" Nope. I might as well have told her I got my fingernails painted. My cousin (who's also my godmother and is really more like a favorite aunt to me) was more excited.

*SIGH*

We won't even go into great detail about my future in-laws. Suffice it to say they've gotten really wacky since I said yes. If my FMIL doesn't attempt to turn our wedding into a political and social ladder climb, I'll be really surprised. For goodness sake, she even invited my fiance's dentist and the dentist's wife to our Jack and Jill shower along with insisting we invite cousins my fiance has never met and could care less about to our wedding. She doesn't even have their addresses!!! This isn't to mention the temper tantrum she threw when we decided we couldn't afford and didn't want to get married in the Caribbean and instead are getting married in my home town.

Some days, I just can't wait for this wedding to be over so we can get on with our lives and our parents can return to normal.