I'm really tired of trying to interpret people's words and actions. What do you do when you know someone's blatantly lying? Or that they're being manipulative to get something you'd give freely anyway? Or when they're being complete assholes because you don't want to have sex with them?

[About here, the normal response is to drop them. I agree. It's just sometimes a little more complicated than that.]

So, that's my rant. Despite age, despite the lack of B.S. I tolerate, there will always be B.S.. There will always be Drama. You only get to chose how you react to it.

On a happier note, my birthday is on Friday, and I'm pretty excited about that. I'm also writing some more, and I was looking up names for characters when I came to the name Ava.

Ava, given it's unclear etymology, could mean everything from water to life. I really like the way Ava tastes and sounds. Another name I'm pretty infatuated with is Kari, which means water.

My kids are going to have such weird names. I really need to come up with boys names, other than Doyle...

 

So, it's not the best picture. This was, however, the first picture of our rings. I took it in the movie theatre immediately after he made it known that he wanted to marry me. The engagement went fast. As of now, we've been together for two years. We were married on April 24th, legally, had the ceremony the next day. I know it's only been a few months, but we're just as happy as ever.

I'm Pagan [or Neo-Pagan]. I was raised wth these beliefs. I'm not Wiccan. [I think my family's more eclectic than anything else, which is fine by me. I think this whole 'unbroken' like tripe is just that.] We had a handfasting ceremony. I like my religion. I think it's fun and fulfilling. My husband had no problem. He seemed to like the ceremony.

September of 2010, I'm going to China. I'll be there for at least 10 months to work, and my husband is coming with me. When we return, we were planning on having a big ceremony. I have the dress and favors picked out, a theme planned, and my husband was fine with it.

However, he then tells me that his mother wants us to have a Catholic wedding. I don't believe I can accomidate her.

Don't get me wrong. I love my husband's mother and grandmother. I genuinely adore them. I understand that his family is Catholic, but neither he nor I am.  I suppose I'm kind of flailing over this, because I want to please my in-laws, because I love them, but I'm really uncomfortable with this idea. I feel like it compromises my religious and personal beliefs. Let me break it down for you. In a Catholic Wedding:

• The couple is required to be  baptized. I'm not, and frankly, I think swearing myself to a god I don't worship would be... unethical at best. "Hey, yeah, I promise myself to you, but I'm not going to worship you and I'm going to do something that you expressed will piss you off: worshipping other gods."
• The non-Catholic spouse is sometimes required to convert. I don't know the first thing about being Catholic and I refuse to give up my heritage. I love my religion.
  
• The couple swears to raise their children Catholic. Actually, I want to raise my children to be Pagan, with enough comparitive religion to make their own decision. I feel like this would be breaking an oath by promising to do something I don't  or can't keep.
  
• Additionally, my husband who does not consider himself Catholic, would have to take vows in order have this ceremony. Vows he may not want to uphold.
  

On the one hand, my husband refuses to talk about this until we return from China, so there's no uncomfortable dinner convos. Again, I love my mother-in-law, and my husband's grandmother. I really do. How do I address my feelings without starting conflict?

Any advice?