>The down side of all the marvelous-ness of getting married and having a fun wedding is that it unfortunately also involved downsizing my life, purging the unnecessary and unsentimental, and kicking some crap to the curb. I’ll be all glad I did it when it’s all over and done with, but right now, it’s bogging me down.

I slept 14 hours last night save about 15 minutes when I got up to go to the restroom and read an email or two. And you know what? I think I might give it a go again tonight. I packed about 18-20 boxes, and I have two huge bags of stuff to give away, and three other huge bags of stuff to just put in the dumpster. Ridiculous.

I caught up on some programs on the DVR while wading through all of it today, and I learned that 5% of people who smoke get lung cancer, but 33% of people who smoke get emphysema. I saw two sets of lungs that had been autopsied: one from a smoker and one from a non-smoker. Yipes. An alarming difference. I am so thankful that with all the things I ever flirted with that were bad for me, I successfully avoided becoming a smoker.

Off-topic, I know. But I just saw the program, so it was fresh on the brain. We have started to get RSVP cards back, and so far, most responses have been in the affirmative. Very exciting! Next weekend begins the out-of-town-every-weekend trend. Next weekend, I will be in Marshall for a couple of church showers — I am very excited about those because I know I will get to see some friends I have not seen in a very long time! Then, the next weekend, I am going to Nashville for a shower there with some super-fun friends! That should be a big time, too.

Of course, as you can imagine, getting engaged and then muddling through the contents of my life have evoked quite a few uncontainable emotions over the past few months. I have at last physically purged some things that I feel like I had emotionally purged some time ago. And what a wonderful feeling.

I realized yesterday that it was probably the mega-doses of steroids that I was given on Tuesday that made me feel like I was in a rage all the rest of the week — I felt very emotional and very aggressive and overwhelmingly desperate a time or two. There have been some situations at work that have really worn me down, and I finally got to a point on Friday where I just had to fully vent about them. And I had a very important (at least to me) meeting with the parent of one of my students whom I hope to have given a greater understanding of the nightmare I live with her child every day. We shall see if empathy occurs and then if it provokes action.

I want to be finished with graduate school. I wish my life was one where I could take a year off from work and just finish the Masters in the next year. Wouldn’t that be amazing? I’m just not sure that is my life.

I think it’s time to go to sleep. And it’s only 9:32 pm.

I have not seen Chris in almost a week. I miss him. But that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes, I guess. He probably needed a break from me, anyway. I’m a bit much for people sometimes, I think.