Dad: So, Ben’s finally going to make an honest woman out of you?
Me: Yeah right. If anything, I’m making an honest woman out of him.
Grandma: So why now after all these years?
Me: When we were in Los Angeles, everything felt dead.
Ben: Like there was no point.
Me: We didn’t like our apartment or our neighborhood, but we worked really hard to make the money to live in it.
Ben: Even though we were never there.
Me: We never seemed to do any better than the year before. We couldn’t plan for anything living paycheck to paycheck. But in Portland, we have family and community. We feel connected to life.
Ben: We’re talking about buying a house.
Me: We can finally see a future we could actually live in.
Grandma: Makes sense.
Ben: Alright, goodbye.
Ben’s Dad: It was nice to see you guys.
Ben: Oh, before we go. We’re planning on getting married and we were wondering if we could do it at your house.
Me: Not now. In May.
Ben’s Mom: Really? Oh my God. Really? This is great!
Ben’s Dad: You were just going to drop that and leave?
Ben: Well, yeah. That seems about right.
Me: Why am I nervous right now?
Ben: Because it’s real.
Me: Seriously, changing my Facebook status has been the most dramatic part of this whole thing.
Ben: Welcome to the future. Where Facebook is a culturally significant part of life.
Me: Oh gross.