Extensive Planning so Migraines Don't Ruin My Weekend Getaway

I'm preparing myself for an upcoming wedding weekend. My cousin is getting married and we will be attending. When I look at it, worded so simply, I'm struck by how common it sounds. People get married all the time, and people attend weddings all the time. But, for me, attending a wedding is anything but simple and easy and it's all because of my chronic migraines and fibromyalgia.

For one, the wedding is out of town so we will be away from home for a couple nights. Thankfully, this wedding is only a short drive away. If a plane was required, I wouldn't be able to attend. Still being away from home makes everything tricky when you live with chronic pain. Strange bed, strange place and, of course, no matter how hard you try, there is no way to avoid getting off that all important schedule. 

We've already spent a fair amount of time researching restaurants in the area. Since we are vegetarians and food/timing can be a big trigger for both of us, we want to have a solid plan in place so we know where and when we will be eating. The place we are going is fairly small, so there are not many good meat free options available but I think we have it mostly figured out. I also made sure we got a room with a mini fridge so we could bring some food and eat in the room too.

My mom and my sister both have birthdays right before the wedding so on top of figuring out the wedding gift I also need to plan to have their gifts ready too. 

I found a good dress and am now in the process of planning the rest of my wardrobe for the weekend. There will be a party to attend in addition to the wedding and reception. I still need to find shoes that won't hurt my feet, legs and back. Then, thanks to some very clumsy moments this weeks, will need to buy some tights to cover a couple large bruises on my legs. 

We also must have a good plan in place for the animals back at home. Hubby's cousin is going to be staying at our house and taking care of the little furry ones while we're away. I'm anxious for this to be a good experience so she will want to do it again when we travel north to visit family later in the summer. To that end we are trying to get our dog used to doing things a little different. 

I've been working hard to get things as settled as possible by this week so that I can spend the next two weeks mostly just resting up for what will be a very social wedding weekend. Odd as it may sound, whenever I have plans, I spend weeks setting my intention for the event. I request that my body cooperates and I commit to doing my part to prepare before and set time to recover after. I do this for all plans, even if I'm just going to have breakfast with family. I've actually been setting my intentions for this wedding for months now since it is much more involved than most of what we do. It works, I don't understand how but it does, so I do it.

With almost all of the family attending there will be many people to visit with and so much going on around us. We've made up our minds that we will participate to the degree that we can. We won't be up late partying with everyone. When things get too loud or when lights get all crazy during the reception, we can go elsewhere. We will take the time we need to eat, hydrate and rest. It may mean that we don't spend as much time with everyone as we would like but this is the only way I can survive the event without serious consequences. I've really just given myself permission to take care of myself. 

The prep work has been extensive but totally worth it. I've been looking forward to this for months. I'm looking forward to seeing family I rarely get to see - I love these family weddings. I'm looking forward to dancing with hubby. But most of all I'm looking forward to dressing up with my man and having a couple days uninterrupted by animal care and domestic chores. It has literally been years since I've had any time away from both.

Even though my chronic pain makes everything harder I'm determined to still get away and enjoy some of the festivities with my family.