Planning a wedding is.... Challenging.

Especially during the middle of the semester.

Tonight at about 9:30pm, I found myself wandering around in a stressed-out tizzy in Kohls... (which is usually a mess, although devoid of the people who made the mess...strange...) I'm clinging half-heartedly to the hand of my sweetheart as he is cheerfully trying to calm my frazzled nerves.

Our quest: One classy looking shirt for a very very pregnant bridesmaid (matron?) at a (hopefully very) reasonable price.

Mom had visited one store earlier, only to report that she couldn't find anything reasonably priced, nor nearly dressy enough. (go figure... pregnant ladies only like to wear hoodies and t-shirts apparently. Honestly, I don't blame them.)

...So, giving up on this particular job, my mom passed this quest into my [hopefully] capable hands...(although this is questionable at this point, since it feels as if I might be juggling about 10 ticking alarm clocks in a room full of sleeping hungry lions.)

Good: We find the shirt.

Bad: It is really quite expensive.

So I call to consult mom. She instructs me to perhaps consider looking elsewhere. As I begin to have a minor break-down in the middle of a (thankfully) empty Kohls, she says, "Maybe ask for a discount? Or put it on hold until we try to find something better?"

The thoughts in my head are this: The wedding is 8 days away. I am FRANTICALLY trying to get not only everything for the wedding ready (which there is still LOADS to do), but also every scrap of homework that is not only due this week, but also next week, and also the week I will be gone on my honeymoon. The report on Hugo Chavez I haven't even begun to think about HAS to be written tonight, despite the quickly advancing clock. I am supposed to have gathered all of my photos for the wedding video to give to the videographer tomorrow.. but haven't even begun to look for pictures. (by the way, the homework I did tonight is due tomorrow morning, so I really haven't gotten ahead. Like, at all.) So in conclusion, where in this big blue earth would I find time to look for more shirts????

(Nathan is gently patting my hair and holding a maternity shirt in the middle of Kohls while I have a slight mental break down right now.)

So, rejected, and not brave enough to ask for a discount while I look like a crazy woman, we walk back to put the shirt back on the rack.

But wait! Behold! A sale sign we missed before! This particular shirt has been discounted to only 26.50! ... still a little more than I was hoping for, but perhaps within a reasonable price range.. so we decide to get it, if only for the sake of just checking it off the to-do list.

Feeling slightly better, we stroll back over to the register lady, who seems to be only one of 2 employees in the whole store at this late hour. She rings up the shirt and...

BEHOLD!!

$10.00! How did this happen!? ....I say aloud, "Wow! Wow!! That is a lot less than I thought!"
Jubilation! The first spring-time sprout of relief I have felt all day! This particular shirt (the perfect one, might I add) is marked down to less than a 4th of the original price!

As we walk out of the store, Nathan says "Heavenly Father really loves you."

And I know. Because He shows me every day. And, only He would know what it would mean to oh-so-NOT-pregnant Katy to get a great deal on a maternity shirt. Only He could ever know that.

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So, as Nathan and I ate dinner watching the ten o'clock news (this is becoming a sadly common occurance as of late), I counted my blessings. They were showing footage of the funeral of a Utah soldier who was killed in Iraq. His wife and babies stood at his graveside weeping ....and I was flooded with gratitude to have what is really important, sitting by my side, warm blooded and healthy, eating cold-ish leftover spaghetti.

So many others would so much rather be me right now, to have my trivial little troubles. How dare I complain for having too much to do for my beautiful wedding and my wonderful future career and my exceptional future family.

I know these feelings of pressure are real and legitimate, but it certainly does help to look at things a little more in perspective.

Forget about reality checks. I am living in reality, it's right in my face. It's crowding my view. I think I will take a few more frequent perspective checks. That will certainly be therapeutic over the next 8 days... and probably for forever. Because, after all, 8 days from now is only the beginning of forever :)