Kinda Surprised

Today my bridesmaids - Tracey, Vicki, Christa, Jennifer, and Joann - hosted a wonderful bridal shower for me. They have been planning for a long time and worked very hard to keep it a secret. I was informed that I would be having a shower but they refused to share any further details - date, time, location, guests, NOTHING. Oh, the suspense!

Due to my nosey nature (I have spoken about this in a previous blog), I have had my eyes and ears open, watching and listening, for a "slip of the tongue", or any pertinent information that might lead me to find out anything to do with the shower. Through the creation of a bridal registry I was at least able to satisfy some of my curiosity by taking a peek at the gifts everyone had purchased day by day. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

And with so many things happening this summer - birthday parties, softball season, camping, weddings, Jack and Jills, I had narrowed the date of the shower down to two potential weekends. One of those possible weekends had past so I deducted that this must be my lucky weekend. But which day? Saturday? Sunday?

This morning, there was little doubt in my mind. Christa has cancelled our shopping excursion to "babysit", Jennifer had "driving school", Tracey had borrowed my car to "run errands, take Erykah to ballet", etc. AND, Jamie was so compliant with my wanting to visit the mall in the afternoon, it was completely unnatural. Seems he was searching out ways to get me to the shower en route to the mall.

And then Vicki called....

V: "Hey Myrna, I picked up those shoes to try on with the bridesmaids dress. You should come by to see what you think."

M: "Well Jamie is out right now but I'll give him a call to see if he can drop me off cause Tracey has my car."

V: "Okay, I'll be home for a little while so you should come over soon. I won't be home later"

M: "Alright, will call you back in a bit"

And then Jamie calls only a couple of minutes after I get off the phone with Vicki...

J: "Hi, whatta ya doin'?"

M: "Not much"

J: "I'm almost at the apartment, you should come downstairs and we'll go out to the mall"

M: "Well Vicki just called to see if I could go over to look at the shoes to match the bridesmaids dresses."

J: "Oh ok then (trying to sound annoyed at the idea of a detour), we'd better go there first."

Of course, during all of these conversations, I had already decided in my mind that I was on my way to my bridal shower. I had already had a pedicure early in the morning, I had showered, dressed super-cute, did my hair and makeup. I was all set and grinning from ear to ear.

And I was right. Jamie and I drove to Vicki's apartment building where the bridal shower was being held in the downstairs party room. Vicki met me at the door, asked "did you know?" I nodded and said, "kinda" and I entered the room to a big "SURPRISE". It was just so exciting! All of this for ME!! Well, kinda for Jamie too. But he was gone now, scared by the thought of a room full of ladies. So, all for ME!

All of my friends, family, coworkers, had sacrificed their air-conditioned homes and cars for an afternoon of stuffy humid basement bridal shower for me. It was wonderful. My heart was beating so fast! Everyone just looked so cute in their summery skirts and shorts, with lei's around their necks. I don't see many of these people nearly often enough.

Everything was really well organized and we played some games to get everyone mingling and having fun. Then there was yummy food (and lots of it!). And then the gift opening. I got SO MANY gifts, it is unbelieveable! I am just so thankful, everyone was so generous! Where am I going to put all of this stuff in my little apartment? It's a good thing Jamie and I have bought a house.

After the cake cutting, I hugged everyone and said my thanks and goodbyes. Too many of them cannot make it to the wedding.

Now, I am exhausted. The excitement of the day seems to have drained me completely. It was all so awesome! My bridesmaids are truly the best girls ever!

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!