The highlights of the past weekend for the BF and me were a Redeemer-sponsored premarital seminar and the movie Hot Tub Time Machine.  And that, I believe, tells you all you need to know about our relationship.

But in the interest of extending the length of this post, allow me to elaborate.  Saturday morning we headed out at the insane hour of 8:30 (which I’m sure will one day look like sleeping in) across town to the church offices, where the seminar was held.  Just north of 36th Street on Broadway, Redeemer sits in that delightful (read: not delightful) area of town called Herald Square. Otherwise seen on all of your televisions in November as the endpoint of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  We headed past the windows of that landmark store, grasping our Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and munchkins in the frigid air left by the robbery of last weekend’s spring.  After amiably discussing the weather for the duration of the fifteen-minute walk (“THIS IS BULLSHIT!”…”IS THIS WIND SUPPOSED TO BE AN EFFING JOKE?  I HATE EVERYTHING!”), we looked to our left and saw that Macy’s had not acquiesced to spring’s disappearance. Filling six huge picture windows were gardens of various flowers, each with a voiced-over narration.  For once we were running early, so we took our time to watch and listen. When we arrived at the fourth window and its spectacular explosion of hydrangeas, I excitedly reminded the BF that this would be the dominant flower at our wedding, and he gamely (and wisely) pretended to share my excitement.  Then he fed me a munchkin and we headed inside to the seminar.

There are plenty more enjoyable ways to spend six hours of a Saturday than sitting in a lecture room talking about all the issues you’ll face as a married couple.  But walking outside in frigid temperatures is not one, so we had that working in our favor.  Also, we didn’t have to interact with anyone besides each other, and the BF and I appreciated this since we are not big fans of strangers (we have a hard enough time keeping in touch with the people we do know).  The lecturer opened with the line, “If I can break you up today, then that’s what I hope to do.”  The BF and I grinned at each other, eyes wide as we thought the same thing: This is gonna get raw!  Bring it!  Make somebody CRY! (Caffeine can only keep you awake so long.) But there turned out to be laughter rather than tears, and for the next few hours we heard some plainly-delivered truth on the reality of spending your life with someone and just how messy that can get.  There were a few exercises that we were assigned to spread out and tackle on our own.  One of them involved rating your partner’s ten best characteristics, which took me about fifteen seconds.  When the BF shared his list with me, I alternated between feeling joyfully flattered and profoundly humbled. I mean, every girl likes to hear that her beloved thinks she has a nice ass.  But he also referred to my honesty (funny, others have always called it bitchiness) and the fact that I don’t take myself too seriously.  If you had known me five years ago…I thought, giving God a mental high-five over this blessing he keeps giving me, a man who rounds out my rough edges and brings out the best of who I am, of who I want to be. Not to mention his nice ass.

Then on Sunday morning we hit the half-price matinee for a viewing of this year’s instant classic, the aptly and spoiler-alertly-titled Hot Tub Time Machine.  (When the Sis later asked what it was about, I asked if she was joking and referred her back to the title.  We’re not talking hidden meanings and subtle nuances here.)  For the next two hours, we appreciated a lack of hidden meanings and subtle nuances.  And we laughed.  Really laughed.

And then we ended the weekend with our usual last stop, Tim Keller and his consistent wisdom delivered on 69th and Park at Hunter College.  This week Jesus showed up in a big way for me as Tim talked on my favorite passage in the Bible (Luke 4:16-20) and its parallel passage in Isaiah 61:1-2.  The Old Testament verses are a prophecy; the New Testament verses recount how Jesus showed up at the temple, read that prophecy, sat down (!), and basically said, “Yeah, those verses you just heard?  They’re talking about ME.”  Except he left out the part about vengeance, because he already had plans to cover that for us himself.  AWESOME.

Then on the subway, the BF and I were doing our usual talking and laughing thing when He showed up again.  A girl slid past us to get off the train and said as she went by, “I just want you two to know that you’re adorable.”  And she wasn’t even being sarcastic!  We laughed and my face turned bright red with embarrassed pleasure. I thought about all the times I’d seen adorable couples on the train and the reaction I’d had was more of the silent I hate you, why don’t you go jump on the third rail? variety.  And now, I’m part of an Us. A nice-assed, adorable Us. AWESOME.

(Note: The author of this post wishes to acknowledge that the above could come off as obnoxious bragging, but she would like to assure you that’s not the intent.  After waiting thirty years for a man like this, then waiting one more for him to become her best friend before they became an Adorable Couple, she takes great pleasure in telling their story.  Some of you know what she’s talking about with your own partner; others are still waiting.  But be careful not to assume that just because it hasn’t happened yet means it won’t.  Or that it will look like what you expected when it does.  Then you’d be like the jerks who heard Jesus talking in the temple and discredited him because he didn’t act like one of them.  None of us have any business using What Is to dictate What Can Be.)