Stress Test

About a year ago my mom handed me Julie and Julia with a quick, "I thought this might help you, you know, figure a couple things out about your life."  In much the same way she handed me Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert when I went home this past week.

It's no secret that I want to get married.  And more specifically I want to marry Conner.  So when mom handed me Committed it was her way of saying, "Baby, I thought this might help you figure a couple things out about you know, your future life."  The book is both about a woman coming to grips with getting married a second time--even when the first totally bit her in the ass--as well as a history lesson about western-style marriage.

Through that book I learned about the Holmes-Rahe stress scale.  Two psychiatrists back in the 70's surveyed 5,000 patients and came up with a list of stresses and attributed a point value to each event.  If a patient scores 300 or more than whoa buddy, you're at serious risk for illness.
1. Death of a spouse=100
2. Divorce=73
3. Imprisonment= 63
7. Marriage= 50
10. Retirement= 45
12. Pregnancy= 40
41. Vacation= 13
42. Christmas= 12
43. Minor violation of law= 11

How interesting is that?  The three of us would probably rank pretty high on that scale at the moment but hey, maybe we get a little deduction for encountering all this stress on account of something we all love.
The full list can be found on Wikipedia.
Photograph via Green Wedding Shoes