Weddings....

Both of my best friends from college are now engaged. One is getting married in April 2010 and the other is getting married in August 2010. If you would have asked us 4 years ago who would be first the to get married, the answer would undoubtedly be me. So much can change in such a short time.

This leads to the inevitably next question- when will Jacob and I get engaged? I really just want to run away screaming at the thought of it, but part of me wants it... badly.

Jake and I have talked about this. Neither of us feels ready for that yet. We're just starting out in our respective careers, and we want to be financially able to afford a wedding before we even think about planning it. Besides, we're too young.. right?

OK, i guess 24-25 is prime time for matrimony, and we have been together for almost 3 years, and living together for a little over a year, we share a cell phone plan, and a bank account. We are toying with the idea of buying a house. His and my coworkers have told us to just make it official, as have some of our friends. What's the deal?

Personally, I wouldn't mind getting engaged soon, but I know where Jake stands, and he's not even thinking about popping the question. He still gets mad at me when I make casual references to "when we get married" or "let's wait to get new dishes until we register for them." I know he's just trying to be careful, and make sure our finances are in order before we do something so crazy, but I can't help but wonder if there is something wrong with me.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm dead set on him asking my Dad if he can marry me before he asks me. He seems completely repulsed by the idea- and he said he's never heard of that before (which is a lie- I'm fairly sure he told a story about his mom worrying about what her dad would say about her marrying his dad). He does not seem to understand why I want to involve my parents in something that is just between us. But I grew up thinking that whoever I marry had to ask my dad. No ifs, ands or buts about it. It's really one of the few old fashioned things that I adhere strongly to. It just seems like the proper, polite, right thing to do.

Maybe it's because I've already picked out the kind of ring I want. I'm open to suggestions, as I found out when ring shopping with Amy (see picture above), but generally I want a small white gold ring with 3 princess cut diamonds, and can cost no more than $500. I don't want anything too expensive around my finger. He said I took all the fun and surprise out of picking out a ring.

It's not like I want to get married in 2010. I have at least 3 known weddings that I will be attending next year, April (bridesmaid), May, and August (maid of honor), and I can only imagine that there will be more to come. I don't want to add to the chaos. Besides, I feel that a few more of my cousins need to get married before it's my turn.

Plus, we have talked about waiting until all of our other friends are married so we can see what we liked and didn't like and learn from their mistakes, so ours will be the best.

Oh well. Only time will tell. Until then, my left ring finger will remain ringless. I'm not too upset- I did get an iPhone out of the deal :)