The Ol' Ball and Chain

Everyone always jokes that when you get married you become chained to your spouse. I dare to disagree. To me, marriage is freedom. Freedom from social norms, mostly. Freedom from staying up late when you don't want to, freedom to do homework on a date, freedom to tell your date to do the dishes from the meal you made; it's great! I really don't feel like I'm chained to Brad, except for that one time when we were actually chained together.

That is a bike lock 'round our waists. And no, I am not a hobo, despite my cardboard sign. (I had four signs: "Trees=Life," "Trees have feelings, too," "The future is green," and "Save the Trees.") For my Grandma Julia's Halloween Party Brad and I dressed up as a tree and a tree hugger. A quick trip to the D.I. and the park was all we needed to create this wonderful getup. We may not be fancy, but we're cheap! We also learned that it is really hard to find fallen branches that actually have pretty leaves still stuck to them, so those leaves are attached with scotch tape. Pretty brilliant I would say. Though this is probably the last time I can convince Brad to wear a headband.

It was rather a successful day. Which is pretty great because this semester has largely felt like this:

Like I'm a buffalo walking against traffic. I miss last school year. Life was blissful, full of new love and cheesiness.

Days filled with sunshine and ferris wheels.

We're still in love, but reality has entered the picture. All of a sudden we have to do homework, and practice, and chores! Which we did last year, too, but somehow it seems like we had time to do other things. I was excited a couple days ago when I had time to actually go to the grocery store, but then I forgot what I was doing, drove to the University (which is the only place I ever go), and sat there confused until I saw my grocery bags and remembered where I was supposed to be.

Only 3 1/2 weeks until Thanksgiving Break, and then 2 more weeks of classes. The end is in sight.