Der General

As many of you know, my lovely fiance (Steve) is headed for the homeland to watch the World Cup. He has decided to grace the world with a blog, which will chronicle his journeys during the 2.5 weeks.

Yes, that's correct. He is leaving me less than 2 months before our wedding to watch soccer and I think he plans to have a few beers as well.

A little background - Steve and I first started dating in December of 2002. From the very beginning he talked about going to the World Cup in 2006 and his love for soccer. He took me to Chicago Fire games and I must admit I had a good time. Not a good enough time to actually follow the game or watch it on tv - but as a person of competitive nature I could enjoy the sport. I also learned to enjoy the side bets that he and Dan would make at the games. Which corner would the next corner kick be from? How long will the person stay down on the ground? Who will score the next goal? Who will get the next yellow card?

I have never really picked up on the rules of soccer - but was able to follow the dollar bets game. In fact, when we went to a Bulls game a few years back - we were able to bring dollar bets into that game. Will Scottie Pippen foul or get a rebound first? I know we are so wild.

So back to soccer. In dating Steve, you learn to accept certain things. He likes to talk and he enjoys making things up or exaggerating. Going to the World Cup in 2006 in Germany was very clearly not an exaggeration nor was it negotiable from the very beginning. Which was fine for me - as 2006 seemed like a very far off time. Sidenote: He originally wanted to be there for the whole 5 weeks - but good sense and practicality not to mention $$ kept the trip shorter.

When we started to seriously discuss the possibility of marriage, I pushed for 2005 to avoid any potential conflicts with the World Cup. Steve pushed for 2007. We settled on 2006. An additional consideration was the timing of his annullment from the Catholic Church, which took almost an entire year. In the end, I realized that marriage and life require alot of compromise.
I am getting a wedding before 2007, but am going to be fianceless for a few weeks prior to the nuptials. *Note: We were originally looking at October 06 dates - but the Church and reception hall availability was better in August.

In the end, I know that I am not "letting him go" to Germany. He is going and we just happen to be planning a wedding around that time. He has been pretty good at getting his stuff taken care of before he leaves - so really do I want him around for my shoe shopping expeditions?

I realize to most Germany+ Selling Townhouse + Moving into a Very Old House + WEDDING = Crazy - but really it fits Steve and I just fine. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on how you look at it), we are both "pressure players". We work so much better under stress.

Given that logic - I am thinking everthing should go off without a hitch!

If you did not catch my link to Steve's blog hidden in this post - here it is:

http://dergeneral.blogspot.com/

Please note - all of his pictures will be taken on the cheapest digital camera I could find ($50 at K-Mart)!