The Ghost of Christmas Past...and Future

So, it snowed in Fort Smith, Arkansas on Christmas Eve this year. That is like the most unlikely occurrence ever. Luckily, I have the most overprotective parents a 23 year old could ask for, and somehow ended up sleeping at my parent's house on Christmas Eve. This is not an unusual thing for me. In fact, I think I stayed a couple of nights last year over Christmas. I had decided no more of that this year. I live all of 3 miles from my parent's home anyway, so I thought I would be an official adult and stay at my duplex but the snow changed my plans. I learned after I graduated high school and went to college that "home" as I knew it before I moved out of that house is never the same again. This year I was again reminded of this.

As I sat on my newly made bed (thank you mother) Thursday night, I couldn't help but dig through drawers and look at stuff I used to be so intricately connected to. There are trophies and pictures and newspaper articles and tshirts and everything that was once me in that room. It's weird. It's eery. I couldn't help but realize that next year I will no longer be Katy Schrodt. Not that I am the Katy Schrodt that decorates those walls now, but next year I literally will not be Katy Schrodt. I will be married. I will have a new name (if I so choose). I will be part of a new family and have added somebody to my own family. It struck me as really weird. Not scary. Not bad. Just weird. It is odd to me how the memories encapsulated in that bedroom are so far from who I am now. I literally feel like that room is the room of a kid. And I am no longer a kid. I don't talk to those people. I don't play those games. I don't take credit for those acocmplishments. I have new accomplishments and new people. Although, no new games. Either way my time in that room left me a bit nostalgic. I feel like all of the other milestones of my life have been very much predicted long in advance. Marriage is not one that my family or I have ever put a date on. I chose this one on my own. It's a bit unnerving and yet very exciting at the same time. I want to be part of a new family. I want Cody to be part of mine. I'm okay with changing my name (sort of okay) because I know my name does not define me.

Nonethless as I turned out my light and looked up to the ceiling with the fake stars from 1999 that have glowed in the dark above my head for over a decade, I couldn't help but wonder where the time went. I giggled at the thought of all of the nights I went to sleep worrying over an essay due or an upcoming game or other typically high school thoughts. I felt oddly in tune with the students I teach. And oddly old. The world has officially come full circle and I can't decide if I like it or not. The solace I took from my night spent at home is this: there will always be new worries and new obstables and new milestones to remember. I am so appreciative to still have my overly protective parents and irresponsible older brother at home over Christmas. And I am thankful to have a guy like Cody to call my own and put an end to all of the late night star-gazing that often revolved around finding a guy who wasn't a complete idiot. Things are good regardless of what year it is.

Okay, in order to tie this back into my wedding planning, I need a new bridesmaid dress and I am soon to do a cake tasting. That shall suffice =).

My thing...

Okay, so here's the latest wedding update. I think we have decided on a song for the first dance. I realize this may seem like somewhat of an unimportant detail in the grand scheme of everything that is a wedding. However, the only part of a wedding that I have ever thought of before I was engaged is the music. Did I envision a dress? Never. Did I create a fictitious dream husband? Vaguely. Did I have flowers and colors and bridesmaids' dresses picked out? Nope. But since I have been with Cody I feel like so much of our relationship can be tracked and literally relived through songs. So here's the backstory on my song...

I am a Sex & the City fanatic! I spent the Christmas of my sophomore year of college in my bed watching the entire series. I love it. I think it is witty and thought provoking and empowering of women and somewhat pornographic, which is a recipe for success in my book. SATC literally allowed me to understand and experience sex through a TV show. I think it truthfully helped me to not have sex in real life. Ironic, I know. It's like a nicotine patch for virgins (awesome simile). There is an episode in season 4 of SATC that I love. It has always been in my top 5 episodes list. The episode is in the midst of the best times of Carrie and Aiden and I always loved Aiden and I loved Carrie with Aiden. I have always seen similarities between Carrie and him and myself and Cody (I know, weird). Anyhow, the episode also shows Samantha with Richard in a not just sexually based relationship, which was refreshing for me. So, here's the point. I have seen the episode probably 5 or 6 times and everytime near the end there is this song that from the moment I heard it, I loved it. It is fresh and different and so very sweet and romantic. In the midst of my incessant wedding blog reading, I came across the title of the song that some random couple used for their first dance. I researched it a little because I am intrigued by the songs people choose. I feel like the song represents the attitude of 2 people together. Oddly enough, the song that I happened upon on this random website is the song from Sex & the City! It's fate. I konw it.

I explained this whole process to Cody and even let him watch the infamous episode and he seemed to be fine with it. There are other songs that we have always listened to or even danced to, but this is THE song. I think he knew better than to try to stand between me and my SATC love. I appreciate that there will be connections to my real life at my wedding. I want to know that it is more than a song. I also am using Chrysanthemums in my bouquet because of a short story I read entitled "Chrysanthemums" that is a women's empowerment/knowing your identity themed piece. I am such a nerd and such a literature person, and I love it. I want my wedding to be more than surface level. I am excited about my song. I realize this build up is probably making you wonder, "what in the hell song is it?" But I don't want to tell because I want me and Cody to be the ones who know =).

I also bought a dress. Oddly enough, I was more excited to chronicle my song developments more so than my dress developments. I must be wired differently than most. Next post will be the dress post!

Wedding Dress Wow's

So, I went to try on wedding dresses today. I have been somewhat hesitant about the dress process since even before I was engaged. I am not a wedding dress type of girl. I have not dreamt of my one day wedding dress my whole life. In fact, I have given it very little thought until I found myself engaged. I feel like the pressure and importance placed on a wedding dress by the world in general made up for my lack of emphasis.

I love Sex & the City. I have lived vicariously through the women of that show for years now. There is an episode soon after Carrie has gotten engaged to Aiden where her and Miranda try on wedding dresses more or less for fun in preparation for Carrie's marriage. They are standing in this cramped fitting room with some hideous wedding dress giggling about the entire situation. Carrie eventually manages to get the dress on only to immediately want to take it off. She has a mini meltdown in the form of a panic attack at the sight of her in a wedding dress. For Carrie, t was everything that a wedding means wrapped into a large ball of toole and rhinestones. It was her loss of freedom and independence and sexual promiscuity and her identity. I have always identified with that scene for whatever reason. I am not as old as Carrie is. I am not as sexually experienced as Carrie's character is. But I am as attached to who I am as Carrie is. I have always wondered if one day I would put on a wedding dress and soon be engulfed in the magnitude of the situation that I am oddly enough now in.

Today in Beau's Bridal with my mother (a lot less cool than Miranda) acting as my wedding dress assistant I tried on 3 dresses. I tried them on more out of curiosity than actual interest. And I tried them on because I knew I needed to try them on. I did not panic. I did not feel terribly overwhelmed. I giggled and laughed and recognized that I am getting married on June 19th. It was certainly one of those steps toward understanding that marriage is more than a day in June and an excuse to get dressed up. I think I get marriage more than Carrie Bradshaw. However, I still am a bit daunted (if not a lot daunted) by the baggage that comes with marriage. The realistic, pessimistic part of me (which is a big part of me by the way) thinks that it is somewhat crazy to think that a person can make a decision at 23 that will still be in place when they are 63. It is proposterous that in a few months I won't be Katy Schrodt anymore, and instead Katy Prater. It is insane to understand that Cody and I will one day have children, create humans, together. It is crazy.

I do not want out. I do not question whether or not this is right. I just think marriage is a hugely unobtainable concept for me to digest all at once. It will take me all 7 months (and most likely years of marriage) of this engagement for me to understand what it is that we are exactly doing. I can only hold onto the truth that I am certain of. And that is that enough love can erase the realistic, pessimistic side of a person and replace it with a little less Carrie Bradshaw and a little more fairytale.

We Have a Date

June 19, 2010 will be the big day. I don't love the date, mainly because I've never been a big fan of June, but that's okay. I've started to understand that weddings run you, you don't run your wedding.

We will be getting married at my church, Goddard United Methodist with a reception following at Golden Living. I think it's really awesome that our reception will be at the headquarters for a nursing home facility, but again it's the nature of the beast. I like old people, so I'm cool with it anyway. I just wanted to make sure that the air conditioner worked and it seemed very cool the day we visited the reception site.

We still don't have a time or photographer or cake person (I assume baker is the correct term for that). But considering we've only been working a week at planning, I feel like we got an acceptable amoutn accomplished.

I am slowly starting to accept this whole engagement/marriage thing. I think it's really weird how when you start putting different titles on a relationship and rings on different fingers, things seem to want to change. Regardless of the situation, Cody and I are still Cody and me (this sentence is an English teacher's nightmare).

I think I kind of had a delayed reaction to this whole thing to be honest. The other day I was trying to explain symbolism in reference to Lord of the Flies to a group of 14 year olds. I know that any sort of abstract idea is so difficult to explain where kids can understand, especially 10 minutes before lunch, but I was determined to do my best. I immediately thought of a cross as being a logical symbol that most people understand the underlying meaning for. However, as a public school teacher, I try to stray from anything Jesus related. From there I decided I would go to the symbols they use on a map to signify a state capital, a major interstate, etc. Then, I realized this is the generation of mapquest and most of my kids have probably never even looked at a paper map (insert cringe at my growing older here). So, on to my 3rd attempt to explain the same concept. As I stood there in front of 30 pairs of glazed over eyeballs, I came up with an extremely simple symbol: a ring. I began to talk about what a ring symbolizes beyond a pretty piece of jewelery. However, by some stroke of God, who I had refused to acknowledge only moments before, my students starting spouting off all of these things that a ring symbolizes. Love, marriage, trust, a relationship, sex (from the funny guy in the back whose desk faces the wall because he can't focus on anything), money, etc. I stood there for a minute stunned that these kids have any idea what a ring symbolizes and then realized how early on people understand that a big part of life is finding someone who will give you a ring or wear the one you give them. I had this weird flashback to me being a 9th grader and a fastforwarded memory of all of the steps that somehow created this road to me being engaged to be married. It was all a bit overwhelming to take in, but I finally felt like I had processed the situation.

It's funny to work with young people who serve as a constant reminder to who you used to be, where you used to be, and the things you used to believe. At 14 I didn't know Cody Prater would be the man I would marry, but I am so glad that he is. It was humbling for some reason to know that I have successfully traversed those years of not knowing where I would end up or with whom I'd end up. I was glad to not be 14. And I was glad to be 23 and engaged without any hesitation or question about the situation. All of this took place in a crowded room with my rowdiest class of the day. As the bell rang, the smart elic (sp?) who so thoughtfully threw out the response "sex" in reference to what a ring symbolized apologized to me for saying it. I reprimanded him and told him that everything didn't have to be about sex and went on to say that marriage is not all about sex. As he walked out of my room, I sat down with a rather wide grin on my face understanding all of the things that marriage will hold for Cody and myself.

We Got Engaged

Update: Katy Schrodt and Cody Prater are engaged after close to five years worth of traditional, yet oh so unconventional courtship.



In the past three days I have repeated the story of how we got engaged close to 76 times. With each retelling of the story, my engagement magic slowly loses some of its shine. I realized that I may as well jump into wedding planning feet first (or is it head first?) and create a blog to capture all of the wonderful (note the sarcasm) moments ahead of us. To begin, I will give a brief reenactment of the past five years with Cody Wayne Prater. It all began with a less than noteworthy meeting in the courtyard of Sebastian Commons. There was a few months of both of us pretending not to be interested in the other, followed by a slow moving dating period that eventually led to an "official" relationship beginning on March 1, 2005 (technically we only chose March 1st to allow for an easier remembrance of our anniversary). Cody and I are crazy together. I think we are somewhat unique in the way we interact and yet perfectly right at the same time.



On October 31, 2009 (It may have actually been November 1st. We are uncertain how Daylight Saving Time effects an engagement) Cody and I went to Wells Lake for an "adventure," according to Cody. It was very late at night and quite chilly. I was somewhat agitated at the late night hours and cool temperatures. I was nagging Cody that an "adventure" technically entailed a new place, which Wells Lake certainly was not for Cody and me. Nonetheless, we weathered the cold and the duck poop and the profanity-ridden mouths of the group of people across the lake to walk around long enough for Cody to propose to me. Cody wore a tightly zipped up coat and windsuit pants that cleverly covered a suit underneath. He offered me his coat numerous times (I always turned him down.) before he finally began undressing himself. There was a bent knee proposal along with a fluster of emotions and tears (mostly Cody) and words that I still do not remember clearly. All I know for certain is that when we left the familiar Wells Lake on October 31st or perhaps November 1st, we certainly had embarked on a new "adventure."


I never was a dreamer. I have not spent the better part of my 23 years of life envisioning my wedding day. I do not have the majority of my wedding planned. Honestly, I have never really cared a whole lot about my wedding day. Needless to say, the past 3 days have thrown my somewhat indifferent wedding attitude into a win-at-all-cost wedding game plan. I want the best date and best dress and best flowers. I want the best ring (I really like the ring by the way.) and best reception and best ideas so that this wedding can live up to the time I have spent with the best guy.

I think we have narrowed it down to June 2010 on either the 12th or the 19th. I had not a clue the number of details involved in planning a wedding. Only a few days of this has been testimony for eloping! Nonetheless, I will spend the next 7 months of my life tirelessly trying to get this right, simply because I know no other way. I am glad to have good friends and family who I know will help greatly, and at the end of the day, I am so very excited to marry Cody Prater. Here's to an interesting few months and a memorable wedding...