This is Sarah's engagement box. The box I opened to ask her to marry me. Sarah cleaned out her purse recently and this box ended up sitting on the coffee table for a few days.

Sarah: I thought I needed it in my purse in case I needed to take off the ring, to have a safe place for it, but I don't take it off, so I don't need it.

So, this box has been floating around the apartment without a permanent home. Now it's on top of my dresser. I'm not sure if Sarah put it there to say, "You figure out what to do with this."

It seems like a keepsake, right? If the symbol of our engagement came in this box, is the box a symbol as well? I had the ring delivered (sending it out of state saved some money), so this box came in another, slightly bigger box. Should I keep that box too? (In fact, I think I do still have that box, tucked away in a closet somewhere.)

Should we buy a safe and keep our valuables' boxes inside the box the safe comes in?

A nice note from my mom.

Chris is back at work after his three day traditional Indian wedding ceremony in England. This picture of him riding a horse to the final day of celebration has been floating around the office.

Chris: It was great. And I knew it was going to be… elaborate… but I had no idea. Like the horse. I thought I was going to ride it around a corner or something, but no, I rode it all the way from my hotel, with drums and people dancing all around me. Oh, and I guess the horse was a famous horse. They said it had just been on TV.

This morning, Sarah told me about a nightmare she had, probably inspired partially by watching 'The Road' and partially by a vampire class she's taking soon for school.

Sarah: We were in the suburbs, trying to survive a vampire apocalypse. But you got bitten. You were lying on the driveway, dying, and you asked us to kill you before you turned into a vampire. I laid down next to you, and hugged you and you said, "How beautiful." Then my uncle snapped your neck. A couple of days passed and I was holed up in my old house with my family and your body was in the driveway. Every day I had to look out the window to make sure no vampires were coming, but I'd just look at your body.
Me: Sad.
Sarah: The upside to my dream was that I was a really fast runner. I remember being impressed with myself when I was running away from the vampires. Like "Whoa, I can run really fast. I must be in awesome shape."

We've started receiving some very nice comments on the "Guest Book" page of our wedsite.

Oddly, some of the comments are from people who aren't invited. I think my mother gave the web address to the other teachers in her weekly retired teachers lunch at Panera. So, I'm getting some nice notes from a few of my old teachers and librarians.

This picture includes the last few sentences of my favorite comment. I'm guessing she didn't realize what she wrote would be publicly viewable since it ends with, "don't tell your mom I said that."

And here are all the members of the show Whirled News Tonight that are currently engaged. Megan, Alex, Me, Young.

Just under 40% of the cast.

Are this many people always getting married or do you only notice it when you're one of them?

Sarah bought some clothes for the wedding. Bras, etc. (Am I supposed to buy special wedding underwear?)

Sarah: Do you know what Spanks are?
Me: Generally.
Sarah: I tried some on for the first time today. They're terrible. Oh my god. They make you the meat in a sausage casing. It hurt. A lot. I literally almost broke my finger. It got caught under the waistband and it hurt so much I screamed. I'm not exaggerating.
Me: That sounds terrible.
Sarah: I told a friend that I've never worn Spanks before and she couldn't believe it. She says "everybody" wears Spanks. Oh, and she said every time she wears them... the squeezing gives her explosive diarrhea.
Me: Every time?
Sarah: Every time. I don't want that. No Spanks. Fuck Spanks.
Me: Fuck Spanks.
Sarah: I mean... I'll probably end up wearing them, but still...

A high percentage of the invitation reply cards have come back marked "able" to attend. In fact all of them were marked that way until we made the joke, "It looks like everyone's coming to our wedding."

Then the very next card we opened, from my friends Brett and Natasha in Los Angeles, was marked "unable." Then the card after that, from my old Whirled News castmate, Haskins, also in L.A., was another "unable." Things aren't looking good for having any California guests.

The reply cards all have a space set aside for guests to offer two song suggestions for our reception. Only about half the responses so far have come back with songs written in, but 100% of the people who won't be there have definite ideas about what we should play.

Brett and Natasha wrote, "Even though we will not be there (and will be heartbroken about it) I SINCERELY hope you don't hold it against us, and therefore honor the request to play: Jessie's Girl. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!"

Haskins wrote, "Sara Smile by Hall and Oates (Gross! I know!) Ice Ice Baby. I DEMAND these are played in my absence."

By the way, this is me, Arnie, the guy that's getting married.

Sarah and I watched the new HBO biopic about Jack Kevorkian, 'You Don't Know Jack' (not to be confused with the funny trivia game). Watching Al Pacino as "Dr. Death" helping patients with brutal terminal diseases prepare to euthanize themselves, and watching couples old and not so old struggle to find some way to say goodbye during their final moments together... well... it's only natural to imagine yourself there, to feel this inevitable future sense of loss creep in.

As we prepare to begin our marriage, we found ourselves contemplating its end.

Sarah: For us... for me... I could see under the right circumstances wanting that for myself. But I don't think I could do it for you.