Chapter 5 - The In-laws

The 4 week program that I am talking about came like this. (It ended up being a 5 week program to announce the wedding date)
Week one: "Hey Mom and Dad, I am dating this girl"
Week two: "I am really interested in this girl"
Week three: "I think we might get married"
Week four: "We are engaged" (no mention of the wedding date)
Week five: "We are getting married May 21, 2005"

His parents were excited until the week 5 announcement. It is definitely not custom to have such a "short" engagement. They wanted more time to be able to come to the United States and possibly move here. I was taking their son away from them and making him abandon his culture. I don't think that they understood what has to go into an LDS temple wedding and why LDS engagements are usually shorter than 6 months. He was so defeated by the end of that conversation. We knew that we were not going to change the date of the wedding. It was kind of sad because I had the dress, the ring was being made, and we were going to be taking our announcement pictures 2 days after the conversation. He was kind of mopey and I don't blame him one bit. I was a bit mopey as well because my parent's mission call kept on getting moved forward and I was gaining more knowledge that I wouldn't have my parents at my wedding.
Just before we took our wedding pictures, his parents called him. It is no easy feat to be able to call to or from Albania. It is expensive and sometimes it doesn't go through. They called to tell him sorry about not being supportive. They were really excited that he had chosen his life partner and they trusted him in who he chose. It made both of us smile and I am sure that is why our pictures turned out as good as they did.

I have to say that I knew the reasons why they were upset. They had not seen their son for several years and I was taking him completely away because with marriage to an American there was little to no chance of him moving back. They would go by faith alone in how good the match was because they would only meet me 1 week before the wedding.

I couldn't just leave this with my real in-laws. I also have what I call my host-in-laws. They are Endrit's host family from when he was a foreign exchange student. I have to admit that they drove me crazy! Think of what in-laws are portrayed to be and double it because of my mind thinking "but they aren't your REAL parents" I almost threw the ring back at Endrit and gave up. Instead I walked out of the situation, drove my car for a while around Pocatello and cooled off. I wanted to marry Endrit and if it was needing to go through Rick and Janet's family, it would have to be worth it.