Friday, September 17, 2010

You're My Obsession

Katy will tell you I'm totally fixated on our gift registries.

They're not even five days old, and I think about them all the time.

And trust me, this is not about grand Western materialism. Or maybe it is. Alright, alright, it definitely is. Who doesn't like new stuff?

But what gets me is how quickly I'm caving in to this. I mean, I've lived on my own for over a decade. There are scant few items on those registries that I haven't owned in some form or another (and likely bought for myself) at some point before. Except for maybe the kitchen torch. Come to Papa, kitchen torch.

After my apartment was flooded a few years ago, I made a conscious decision NOT to replace a lot of things. Strip down, live simply. This was reinforced when I moved into my current place, which has considerably less storage than the old one. I did another hard edit of my stuff, and took quite a bit to the donation and trash bins.

I even had a conversation with Katy about a month before the engagement.

"You know," I said, "If we really want to travel the world someday, there's no point in having a lot of stuff we have to worry about."

(There's a lot that's unitentionally comical about this statement, but I was drunk at the time. ON LOVE, people, DRUNK! ON! LOVE!)

Now I obsessively curate a list of 200-some-odd items intended for my wedding home. The same home with not-so-ample storage.

And while some of it is about the stuff (Kitchen Torch! A TORCH for the KITCHEN!), there's definitely a fascinating psychological component to it all, too. How can we be so bold as to draft a list of stuff, and ask people to buy it? Will people like our list of stuff? Will people like US enough to want to buy our stuff? How's the balance of big stuff to little stuff? If I was buying from this list of stuff, what stuff would I, could I afford, to give as a gift? What psycho charges $250 for a frying pan, let alone asks someone else to buy it for him? Where will I store all this stuff? How will this stuff hold on to its value in case we need to, you know, liquidate our assets and flee the country? Just kidding...or am I? (twirls mustache)

But I think ultimately it's about the tremendous excitement I feel when I think of building a life with Katy. After all, this will be OUR stuff. Those kitchen towels...we picked them out together. That china/flatware combo? My bride stunned us both by pairing them so elegantly. And in that moment I saw a series of holiday dinners unfolding with her by my side, OUR forks feeding OUR family from OUR plates.

So thanks, to whomever already bought the "Lenox Wine Glasses, Set of 4 Red Tuscany Balloon". You're generosity absolutely flattens me. And I'm looking forward to celebrating from them in the years ahead with more anticipation than I knew I was capable of. But don't worry, I won't overdo it. I'm already drunk enough. On love.

3 comments:

  1. You should have put a link directly to the torch so I could buy it right from this article. I have so much to teach you ;-) Looking forward to having you as my brother in law!

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  2. Ha! Me too, bro. Thanks for checking it out (and again, for the advice in Montana).

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  3. Speaking as one "with experience," I wish I'd registered for a high-quality stand-up mixer. Easiest way to make homemade bread for any purpose a bread machine can't handle (pizza dough, breadsticks, etc.) So if you haven't already registered for one...

    Also, my neighbor is still working on the "What to do in Buenos Aires" list. She did suggest going to a tango show. Who knew they even had such things? She also went on and on about the meat. If you guys like steaks, you're going to be in prime heaven!

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