Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Marriage and Babies


I went to a wedding on Saturday where the bride was wearing one of those meringue-skirted, see-through lace bodice creations so popular with brides in Greece. I suppose it's all a matter of taste because to me such princess frocks look positively hideous, but all around me people were oohing and aahing at what a lovely dress it was. The bride looked happy and therefore she looked beautiful. She would probably think my most wanted list of bridal outfits are over the top. Where's Vera Wang when you need her, eh?

Anyway, I was shocked to learn that this dress had cost EUR 1,500, which isn't so bad except that it was RENTED! Who the hell charges that much just to rent a dress, and why would you pay that much for a dress you can't even keep afterwards? For that much I could have any one of these designer creations, but I can't bring myself to splash out that much on an outfit I will most likely only ever wear once (but I could recycle it to attend other weddings, after all no one in Athens will know I'm wearing my wedding dress to a wedding will they).

Excuse me ... sneezing fit... I've been awake since 5.30 this morning with a fever. Damn summer flu.

Weddings, houses, babies. Or more often than not as of late, houses, babies, weddings. Being an extremely lightweight drinker, on our trip in Crete one evening as we sat by the sea with the Milky Way scattered overheard and a glass or two or white wine in my bloodstream, I admitted my burning desire for a baby to Mr Zeus. It wasn't just an admission like "I'd love to have a child," it was a full on, crazy eyed monologue about how badly I want a child and I don't even care if it's not mine, I'll adopt, and I don't care if I get stretchmarks, I'll get over it, that I have to take a deep breath to brace myself each time we're off to meet someone I know is pregnant and that I see babies everywhere and that all the women we know are having babies which they never, ever let me have for just one afternoon even though I've got years of baby care experience and neither do they tell us when we can drop in to see said bundles of joy resulting in four sets of rattles and baby-groes that have ended up stashed under our bed because by the time we get to see the baby they're too big for the clothes I buy and that sometimes when I'm sitting watching TV in the evenings I feel positively forlorn that I don't have a little person to take care of and feed and fuss over and wash their little clothes.

I stopped talking and held my head. "Am I being ridiculous?" I asked Mr Zeus. But he was too busy laughing at me to answer. Finally, he said "All in good time."

Indeed. And I know he's right. But I still want a baby. If any of you have one, please let me borrow it for an afternoon.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, girl, don't worry, it's just the hormones driving you crazy!
By the way, welcome back, and IF you wear one of those dresses to your wedding, let me know where it'll be at, cause I want to see it live!

bollybutton said...

Yes I know it's the hormones. My practical brain knows that now's not the time. I'm only 26 after all. Plus where would I put a baby in this tiny flat? Under the bed? On a shelf in the wardrobe?

As for the wedding dress, it's red or dead for me. No white meringues.

Anonymous said...

If my baby was still a baby, you could gladly borrow him for an afternoon (or a week). Love the kid to bits but a break is good.

I want to say something wise but...
all I can say is enjoy what you have. You have time for all the "other stuff"

And welcome back !

Psofofeggaro said...

Belive me, as a "mother before wife" I'd gladly let you borrow my kids for an afternoon (or a week as deviousdiva said too). Now its the time to enjoy "beeing together" with your other half, cherish the momments of "2 become 1" because when 2 becomes 3+ you wont even have time to pee :/

bollybutton said...

YOu are perfectly right ladies, and I know that. But let's face it, none of us can silence the sledgehammer of our hormones. I think I also feel the time pressure because Mr Zeus is older than me, and I don't want the other kids to shout out "Hey Niko, your grandpa's here to get you."

teacher dude said...

Maybe everyone read your previous post about breaking stuff.LOL. Just a thought about the baby lending idea.

BTW the same wdding dress craze you describe is also still going strong here in Thessaloniki. Bleached Barbie seems to be the flavour of the moment.

As far as the expense of wedding dress hire is concerned I saw a very interesting explanation by the economist Robert H. Frank of why such things are so expensive which I've promptly forgot. Something to do with rising price of gold on the international commodity markets, but don't quote me on that.