When John and I drove from our honeymoon in the Catskills to married life in Florida we toted along our worldly possessions. These included a stack of wedding gifts from people who wanted our success more than we did, considering our naïveté. How could we fail with our dreams securely fixed to the clouds?

Don't answer that. 

Some of those presents have been packed and unpacked as we followed our gypsy trail around the country. A wool hand crocheted blanket came from my landlady in Illinois and the dean of the theological school gave us a round pewter tray. I remember them fondly. 

But the only furniture we owned was a rocking chair from my brother. John sat on odd days. I took even. 

Over time we collected second hand dressers and eventually exercised our consumer prowess with IKEA furniture. 

The business plan of that company is genius: Reduce both shipping and manufacturing costs by selling unassembled tables. Include a small print twenty page booklet explaining the sequence of bolts and screws, and give customers the heady satisfaction of constructing it themselves. They will thank you for it later. Having sewed my own clothes since the days of paisley bell bottoms I was on board with creative sweat. 

But when John actually sliced open the crate and six pounds of hardware clunked on the floor... It was daunting. No one in the store or on the display photo seemed confused. Why were we? Fortunately there was a 1-800 number included. 

Marriage in a Box arrives with some assembly required. All the components are included but getting the pieces in place is harder than some of us expected given the marketing blitz. It seems the CEO of Eternal Relationships wants us to feel as if we helped put it together. I might remember to thank Him someday. 

For tech support call 215-840-9279