Frustrations Abound

I politely introduced and tried to establish myself as the matriarch in the room—aside from the bride, of course. There were no introductions back and, after a bit of an awkward pause, I encouraged everyone to enjoy themselves and the food. It seems the only ones listening, though, were Elizabeth and Jennifer. They immediately rushed to the buffet-style table, filled their plates and stuffed their faces. Ahead of guests and even the bride, they rushed outside to the home’s covered patio, secured for themselves the best seats in the room, and began chit-chatting away. The rests of the guests hesitantly followed while Sam and I stared at each other. Did that seriously just happen?

Games came next. Of course, bridesmaids Elizabeth and Jennifer won all of the prizes. Realizing those were the chances, though, I moved on to the last and most fun game. This one, however, took a bit of explaining. Each guest would be given a card with the name of a famous person written on it—only, they couldn’t look at the card. They had to use tape to attach the card to their foreheads and—cue the headache. I never had a chance to finish the explanation. Interrupted by a sound worse than nails on a chalkboard, I sat stunned as Jennifer let it be known that she was not, under any circumstance, going to look like a moron with a card taped to her forehead. She strongly encouraged everyone else at the party to forego the game. That’s right—the same person who was ecstatic to win ‘count the M&Ms in the jar’ was afraid of looking foolish.

Luckily, the bride came to my aid and we went ahead with the game. Those who participated spent the next hour in a fit of giggles—even the bride’s fiancé and his best man joined in. It was definitely the highlight of the shower and it seemed all of my hard work had been vindicated. Finally, something was going the way it was supposed to!

I relished the moment, but it didn’t last long. With no warning, queens Elizabeth and Jennifer up and left. Their departure signaled the premature end of the shower and soon, other guests followed suit. Once again, Sam and I were left to do the work. We had dirty plates, glasses, used wrapping paper, furniture, picnic tables, and decorations to clean up. All of the food had to be packed away and divided up between the bride and her mother, the drink bins needed to be emptied of ice and water, and the bride needed help carrying gifts to her car. Adding to the stress, we had 45 minutes to complete the work because Sam still had to catch a flight home.

Working diligently, we met our deadline. Despite the frustrations, I considered  the party a success. Guests had fun and the bride was happy. My job was complete. I was ready to go home, where I had planned to meet my partner and his family for dinner before they, too, returned home from their visit.

Little did I know that the frustrations had only just begun.