Jo's Journey: Day 1

A/N (Author's Note) : I recently read from A Novel Idea about a really interesting idea, in which you write blog posts from the perspective of your characters.  Since I'm doing the "Road To 'My Compass Home'" I've decided that I'll do a blog post here and there, either "Jo's Journey" or "Walter's Wonderings" (although 'wonderings' may appear a typo, it is indeed a word defined "as in amazement"....so there, autocorrect!) Anyway, without further ado, the first post.  Oh, and I'll date these relevant to the end of Beautiful Chaos.  If you haven't read it yet, well...spoiler alert!

Jo's Journey

January 2nd

All is well in the world, I suppose...for now, anyway.  It seems as if everything's going entirely too smoothly since my return from D.C., as if the world's waiting with bated breath to snatch this newfound peace of mine away.  Christmas and New Year's has passed as if in a blur and I'm still getting used to this hefty old ring on my finger.  (Take note, I'm not bragging: it's actually heavy and old, since his grandmother wore it about 80 years ago!)  I constantly find myself tinkering with it and on one occasion, Stephanie asked if I was having second thoughts about being engaged to Walter Larkin.  Second thoughts--!  The boy's the best thing that happened to me, it's just that the ring's his grandmother's Edwardian-style rose-gold-and-pearls piece, and the pearl center is surrounded by these little white gems that make it top-heavy.  It's constantly rolling towards my palm, even though we had it resized the day after Christmas.  (Something tells me a lot of people got engaged this Christmas; the jeweler nearly rolled her eyes when we walked in!)

Regardless, back to the present-- It hasn't even truly sunken in that I'm the soon-to-be Mrs. Walter Larkin.  It just feels like I'm on break from work and I'll be shipped out to some forsaken country soon, translating threats and hoping the interrogators don't take them seriously.  I probably won't believe it, either, until after we're married and I'm certain that nothing terrible will befall us beforehand.  On the other hand, he's just ecstatic.  His father's still in London for treatment, but his mother said he's been doing well.  He's thanking me every day for coming home when he was the one that brought me back to begin with, and over New Year's he asked if I'd decided on a date for the wedding yet!  I've hardly told Alison that we're engaged yet (aside from a mysterious photo of the ring that I texted to her to indicate I was home from D.C.) and I've hardly caught my breath from the whirlwind of the past few weeks, let alone set such an important date!

I almost regret not being one of those little girls who constantly dreamed of their wedding.  Now mine is approaching and I don't even know what I want to do for it!  But what I have been thinking about, keenly: that Carter and my mother won't be there in the front pew, and they ought to be.  Granted, I'm thankful that Abigail, her mother, and my father will be there for it -- last year at this time, that would have been dubious--but I'm still thinking about it.  Is it selfish of me to want them here, too?  To look to my mother for wedding advice and beg Carter not to scare Walter that much with the whole "big brother-slash-protector" role?  I haven't a clue, but I suppose I've got na tha a dhìth orm --all I need.  Right here, be it in the flesh, in the Spirit, and in the heart.  And I do know one other thing, that I'm absolutely undeserving of this kid.  Kid--we're still just kids, really, come to think of it!  Should be barely out of high school and here we are, college grads and engaged.  It's a marvel, to be certain.