Congratulations and good luck.

Lee and I have the privilege of attending the 7 am Mass at our local parish most days of the week. There is no Mass on Mondays or every other Wednesday, so on those days I always feel a little off. But man am I thankful for the days that start on such a positive note! Also, the other 15-20 people there are retired, so they always enjoy seeing us and remember to thank us for helping pay their social security. It's quite hilarious.

This morning was a little special though. Our priest, I'll refer to him as "padre" for now, has been gone since we've been back from the holiday break. We were pretty excited to tell him as soon as we got back, and hoped for a special blessing on our engagement, but he was gone all of last week! 

So this morning before Mass Lee and I stopped into padre's office to let him know the good news and ask for his blessing during Mass. Man was he excited for us! He gave Lee the typical, "what were you waiting for?!" line, but Lee has a lot of grace with that and always just smiles and laughs. He's so funny, and I love seeing how he reacts when people say things like that. He never uses more words than necessary, but just the right amount.

At Mass last week a few people saw the ring and congratulated us, but apparently the word didn't spread (which is quite comical because the group is pretty small, and we have daily Mass in a small library downstairs in our church). As soon as padre mentioned the "exciting news of Lee asking me a question and now I have a ring on my finger," everybody clapped! They were so happy, it was cute. I felt like I had five sets of grandparents in the room by the way they were all so delighted.

Padre then told us a quick story: "You know," he said, "when a couple gets engaged it's customary to only congratulate one of them--the groom--because he wins the girl. To the girl, rather than congratulations, you should say 'good luck' because now she has to deal with the guy!" And then all of the men in the room erupted into an uproar of laughter. Lee blushed, and I smiled. Because in my opinion, I'd have to say that while we both deserve the "congratulations," we also both need the "good luck," and I'd wager Lee more than I! While girls are exciting and beautiful, they are also difficult, way complicated, and experience a menstrual cycle. This may be something that men just never fully understand. And that is okay (until the Packers lose a shot at the Super Bowl the week my period starts...but that's hypothetical of course).