10 Sleeps

Well we are now down to 2 hands. This is how I used to countdown on the ship at the end of the contract. Once you were down to 2 hands, you were then getting close.

The past couple of weeks have not been as crazy as the first few, but it is now down to the details... And my greatest fear now is that things get lost in the wee details.

There have been a few stressful moments along the way and my vision of being the non-stressed bride just hasn't come to fruition. I know that people do this all the time and I shouldn't be surprised that there is some anxiety and stress, but still I find myself freaking out about things that normally just don't matter.

The first meltdown was at the florist. We had viewed the location for the ceremony and we agreed that we needed some flowers to mark the area. As we headed to the florist recommended by the planner, Akis said we were heading to the 'expensive' part of Athens. Hmmmm. Well after getting lost and a near car altering incident with another vehicle, we got into the florist. Akis, myself, the planner and the florist sat at a VERY large round glass table. The florist spoke mostly Greek which in these situations can be difficult for me ~ I need to rely on the translation from either Akis or the planner to make sure that what I want is communicated. In this case, the florist and planner continued to ask what I wanted the flowers to look like. And while this seems like a normal request, at the time, I felt like they were wanting me to design the floral layout and I snapped.... The florist is the professional and the planner is there to give me options... Neither of this seemed to be happening. It was at this point that I realized that I was far more stressed about this than I thought I was.

I'm glad that we decided to get a lot of things done when I first got here. With a major national holiday on Friday, most stores are closed this week ~ and when I say closed, I mean there is an piece of Letter paper taped to the door saying, 'Closed, back August 20'. There is no business being done at all. Needless to say, the florist is closed, the photographer is closed and the guy who is doing the reception, he is away.... At this point, I can use one of my new favourite Greek phrases 'ti na kano;' ~ What to do?

So there are still some things left to be done, but at this point, I keep telling myself there isn't much point in getting worked up. With everything closed until next Monday or Wednesday, there isn't going to be a whole lot that can be changed. In someways, perhaps this is better, at least I'm not running around between places like a chicken with my head cut off tying to make last minute changes. However I have learned from this experience, working from a list is essential.

Here's to 10 more sleeps.