What’s going to be different?

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It seems like I’m at a space shuttle launch, that it’s New Year’s Eve, or that I’m listening to a radio station playing nothing but “Europe.”

The final countdown is on.

In less than a month’s time, I will be a married man. You can go ahead and stick a fork in me.

People are constantly asking me if I’m excited, or if I’m nervous, or if I’m contemplating sneaking off to the north woods of Canada, never to be heard from again. The answer to all of the above questions is yes.

Everyone likes to make the point that my life is about to change in a very dramatic and permanent way.

I can’t help but wonder, though — will things really be that different for us?

Amber and I have been together for nearly six years. It feels like we’ve been together for 57. Michael Jordan could win a career’s worth of championships in the time of our relationship. Lovie Smith hasn’t been coach of the Bears as long as we’ve been a couple. Heck, Alfonso Soriano will have been a Cub for only two fewer years than we’ve been together when his contract expires ... and by then, it will feel like an eternity.

By now, Amber and I are pretty familiar with one another. I’ve come to terms with the fact she will be taking college courses until the year 2061. She has learned to accept that I work odd hours, to say the very least.

She knows by now that if I’m not forced to do otherwise, I’ll live in conditions only slightly cleaner than Oscar the Grouch’s dwelling. I found out long ago that if I don’t enjoy Ramen noodles and frozen pizza for dinner, I had better learn how to cook myself.

We’ve known how to compromise in areas like television watching for a long time. I understand the sacredness of “Grey’s Anatomy” Thursdays, even if I don’t understand why in the world anyone would ever want to watch the show.

Amber understands that no matter how much she rolls her eyes and gives dirty looks to the TV, I’m perfectly content watching football for 11 consecutive hours each Sunday.

There won’t be big adjustments with our families, either, as everyone, knock on wood, gets along pretty swimmingly. I’m cool with Amber’s dad not being as big a Bears freak as I am, and I think he’s cool with me not being as big on NASCAR as he is.

Amber has accepted that my mom has a contract with AT&T that requires her to spend 15 hours per day calling and texting her children and their spouses to be.

So what will change after the big “I do?” I’m not naive enough to think the answer is nothing. For one, I’ll have to wear a ring, which will be an adjustment from the current total of zero pieces of jewelry in my wardrobe.

We’ll no longer have to argue about whose last name our dog is assigned. Amber herself will be a Johnson, and we’re taking Mimi to the courthouse the following Monday to officially make her one, too.

On a serious note, I do know that the honeymoon won’t last forever. We will fight, we will grow angry with each other, and we will drive each other up a wall. I’m very confident that we will also apologize, make up and compromise when we have to.

And I’m more sure than ever that asking Amber to marry me was the right move.

At least I think I am. Just in case, anyone know the best way to northern Canada?

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