Editor’s Note: This is a preview of a feature that will be available on The Man F.A.Q. regularly starting Oct. 12.
MY WEDDING is three weeks away. That should just about spell it out for you, the official end my bachelorhood. And I’ve got to tell you, I was damn good at being a bachelor. Mine was the place where the “big game” was watched. I had the big place with an extra room I could do anything with. No matter where you were in my pad, a TV could be seen. I had the dog that was more like a roommate (we were even known to each have a steak every now and then). I had the back yard with the grill that was used several times a week. I had nothing in the fridge, but beer. I had just enough women around not to go crazy.
Even my soon-to-be wife has mentioned how well-suited I was for bachelorhood. There’s a key word there, was. Not too long ago, we were talking about our pasts, and she even said, “Yeah, but you were actually happy while you were single.” Even my aunt once said, “Can’t believe you met a girl. We didn’t think that was ever going to happen.” I think even my parents were getting tired of just seeing pictures of the girlfriends that were gone before they could meet them.
With the wedding being counted down in terms of days, and the event planned down to the minute, I’m proof that even the most “single” men can settle down.
In my case, a co-habitation engagement has been a decent pregame for the “next life.” Just how is a guy like me supposed to make a change like this? I’ve already moved from living 10 years in a college town to taking up residence in a townhouse between the “family with the kid who goes to be early” and “the eccentric retired guy.”
I have no doubt the first year of marriage is going to be an eye-opening experience, but I know this guy can get it done. The first key to success is having a girlfriend/fiancée/wife who understands the kind of freebird-turned-husband she’s got on her hands. She knows I’m going through something, at least. She knows the life in my tomorrow is completely different from the life I had yesterday.
Over the next year, I’ll keep track here just what it takes for the bachelor like me to take the ultimate step into manhood … settling down and starting a clan of his own.
And to clue you in on some of the things I’m going to be talking about: I’m writing this on my laptop in my “man room.” The room in the house with the sports memorabilia displayed all over, a DVR full of recorded games and an old-school tavern dart board on the wall. Right before she went to bed, my wife-to-be walked out of the room with a smile and said, “You do your man things.”
Extra Bit 1 – Oh, and about that laptop. It’s actually another example of what I’ve been talking about. I can’t even settle down with a single operating system. I’ve got Windows on one partition (so I can run Photoshop and InDesign) and Linux on the other (for everything else and the higher security).
Extra Bit 2 – In the next year, one of our goals is to get a house complete with a garage. Imagine the possibilities!
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