on the road to post cana

Last night The Fiancé and I had our first Pre Cana meeting. According to Wikipedia [because it is the source of all my information, and because The Church neglected to tell us], "Pre-Cana is a course or consultation Catholic couples must undergo before they can be married in a Catholic church. The name is derived from John 2:1-12, the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee, where Jesus performed the miracle of turning water into wine."

But enough about the Bible. It's not as if us Catholics read it anyway.

For Pre Cana, we had our choice of giving up [I mean, spending] an entire Saturday at a random church in the boondocks, or attending four week-night sessions at the home of a host couple in our lovely neighborhood. We chose the latter. Whether this was wise or naive is yet to be determined.

The day started out with me already fearful that The Fiancé would be late. This was not without justification, mind You. For our first marriage preparation informational meeting at the church we attend, he was late. He says five minutes. I say twenty. It was somewhere in between. Regardless, for at least ten [because I can assure You, it was more than five], fifteen or twenty minutes, I was the only single person sitting in a sea of couples clutching each other as if they were about to fall into the Catholic abyss. When I signed in, the church lady at the desk looked perplexed and confused, as if I didn't understand English when she asked what I was there for. A quick flash of my left hand was lost on her. Upon being seated in the church sanctuary amidst the sea-of-couples-clutching-each-other, I felt as if there was a bright, hot, uncomfortable beacon of light shining down on me, illuminating my singular-ness. It was like being the only single girl at the prom. Only worse. Much. Much. Worse.

Anyway.

This is all a precursor to why I was apprehensive about our first Pre Cana meeting and what I was sure would be my imminent arrival sans The Fiancé. Thankfully, he made it home from work on time [...It may have had something to do with my fit in the morning about how we should just scrap the whole thing (the Pre Cana, not the wedding) if attending meetings on the preparation of our marriage were too difficult to be on time to.... but um... I'm sure his timeliness was just good fortune...].

The meeting was two parts awkward, one part interesting. I find it awkward and unnatural to discuss relationship conflict resolution, family planning and finances with complete strangers. Then again, we generally don't discuss that stuff at dinner parties with our closest friends either. Maybe we should - it could be enlightening.

The one part interesting stems from the voyeuristic opportunity that Pre Cana unwittingly provides. For two hours, we heard about the way other couples interact and handle various issues. I wish I could tell You the examples of things we heard, but alas, that would be breaking Rule #1 of Pre Cana: What happens in Pre Cana, stays in Pre Cana... for the obvious reason to avoid it being blogged about by some silly bride the next day, I presume. [To confess, I wrote an entire witty entry deliciously summarizing the best comments made last night...then I remembered Rule #1 and had to delete the whole thing. I can assure You it was hilariously funny and brilliantly written.]

When driving home, I bemoaned the lack of liquid courage [aka booze] at the meeting... The Fiancé brightly pointed out all the reasons this would be a bad idea, not the least of which being, the potential for one of us to get loose lips and share something we shouldn't with a strange crowd...

I'm sure he was referring to himself, not me.