Day 89: I survived my wedding

TA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAN!!

Here we are, safe and sound after the chaotic 3-ring-circus my wedding ceremony became. Again, I want to publicly thank miao for her nice support under this affronting circumstances.

Just in case you want to know how this soap-opera drama ended, I will say that the ceremony was routinely formal, except for the fact that my mother arrived shamefully late and barely screeched her tires in time to sign the official document.

Later, she asked my recently-accquired hubby and I to go shopping for her since she had no time to purchase "guacamole" (wa-ka-moh-leh), thus causing our team to arrive, to our dishonor, an hour after all the gests had gathered at the reception.

The wedding cake, as I predicted, was a total bitter dissapointment, given the fact my mother accepted it with such and awful, conventional and wrong decoration, blatantly contravening my precise instructions on it, thus letting the decorator to get his way with it. Fortunatelly, at least the filling was as delicious as I expected, as it was I who decided which one was the more likely to be found tasty by my guests.

The funniest thing (yes, still there was something funny) was that the person my mother made me invite under the premise he was going to provide us with the best present ended up giving

us nothing but his gracious presence. TAKE THAT ONE, MOM!

So here we are, with nothing in our relation changed at all, except for the fact that today, while filling up the required format to apply for an American Visa (which I was granted, by the way), they forced me to include the "De Valdes" on the list of any name I might be called by, an ancient custom I have loathed all my life, since I never agreed on belonging to anyone just by signing a paper. Therefore, I will forever defend my right to sign my maiden name, given the fact I have no license plaque hanging from my neck.

I hope you have enjoyed the tale of this wedding adventures more than I did. Ja, ja.

Day 88: Heterodoxy as a form of individualism

I used to believe that once I reached adulthood I would stop fighting to preserve my individualism (certainly aging had to have at least that advantage, right?), but life and my family have proven me wrong again.

It has been a really frustrating experience to discover that my own family, especially my mom, do not happen to accept that doing things in an heterodox way is not a form of rebellion, but a form to stand for one's believes. It is not that we critizice their way of doing things to prove them anacronistic or invalid, but a desire to stand out from the herd used to doing all things the same old ways, always following the same treaded paths. Developing a unique way of doing things is part of human development towards an effective way of life, thus rendering heterodoxy as a healthy experiment on new ways and trends.

However, I have been told that a mother's greatest dream is to see her daughter getting married as an excuse for not letting me get away with my own "heretic" and "socially incorrect" wedding plans. From the guests to the wedding cake decoration, I have been emotionally blackmailed into accepting a painfully long list of social conventionalisms that outrageously disrupt the solid edifice of my personal convictions, thus tearing apart any chances I might have had of enjoying the event.

Following the sentimental thread, if a mother's deep feelings and expectations over such a grand occasion are to be taken into account, I cannot help but wonder why that mother is not willing to comply with her beloved daughter's own agenda for what is suppossed to be the "greatest day in a woman's life" (sic), especially when that mother has publicly stated that she only has that daughter's best interest at heart. How can anybody say something like that and then completely ignore what the other person trully wants?

To be honest, I have been virtually kicking my own ass for giving in at all these stupid requests. I have been constantly blaming myself for being so week to sucumb at the face of awfully stressing endless arguments. I truly despise myself for not defending "to the last man" my position regarding stupid XIX century customs. Somehow I feel I have again lost a battle to retain the last shreds of whatever personality I might have developed throughout my troubled teen years and tempestuous young-adult life. It has been eating me in the inside that the people who are suppossed to support me have turned into my worst enemies when it comes to "keeping the appereances" in front of a bunch or relatives who don't give a shit whether I live or die.

The only good thing is that all this bizarre circus is gonna be over next Thursday, and my partner and I have sworn to seclude ourselves in a monastery for the whole next weekend, thus being able to rejoice privately about renewing the vows we made when we hit it off TWO YEARS AGO!