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the time you read this the wedding we have been planning and working toward for
the last nine months will be all over. The bride is doing fine as I write this
two days before the ceremony. She is calm and happy and pleased with everything.
Her complexion is clear, her hair is shiny, she’s always smiling and her gown
fits perfectly. The rest of the family? Not so good. I mean, we’re happy. Very
happy. But we seem to be doing our level best to make sure that the wedding pictures
containing family members will end up in somebody’s email entitled "More Awkward
Family Pictures."
I did my part by coloring my hair. Like everything else
my timing was carefully planned. I wanted to color it early enough that it would
have time to mellow out, but late enough that I would not have visible roots.
I had it down to the day and minute. I thought I was careful to choose the same
color as last time which was "Inoffensive Mousy Brown". My favorite. But, as you
have read before, I goofed somehow and ended up with "Catsup Mixed With Worcestershire
Sauce." But it’s okay. Nobody will be looking at me anyway. Although I might be
hard to miss because I have gained 10 pounds in the past two weeks. I didn’t really
know that weight gain that fast was possible, but evidently it is.
Andy
has been working on his teenage skin issues. He normally ignores his skin and
has the dewy, velvety complexion of an apricot (only not orange) with just a couple
of little spots. In an attempt to avoid having any spots at all he has been applying
some type of anti-zit goo which has caused him to break out like a cranberry muffin.
Don’t tell him I said so. If he groans when I compare him to an apricot, imagine
what he’d do if he heard the muffin comparison.
David has been growing
out his beard and moustache in some kind of a modified ZZ Top kind of thing. With
wax. I mentioned the possibility of a shave or at least a trim and he informed
me that his facial hair is "just getting good."
Then there’s Sarah, the
Maid of Honor. She was doing fine. Her hair was looking good, her complexion was
great. Thanks to lots of running and yoga she’s looking slim and trim and healthy.
She arrived on time from Texas without any car trouble
or any other problems. She’s already accrued enough vacation time for the wedding
and Christmas. But she got chilly. She needed another blanket. And, being a considerate
girl, didn’t want to wake anyone up with the hall light. And that is how she ended
up running face first, at considerable velocity, into the linen cabinet door.
She’s okay. Or better anyway, after a pretty spectacular bloody nose. It’s really
only the left side of her face that is affected and we’re all confident that the
swelling will go down in three or four days. Which will be one or two days after
the wedding. And the wedding pictures. We’re calling the shiner she got a "smokey
eye." Because that’s how we cope around here. We say everything is okay and then
hope for the best.
Today
we went to get manicures and pedicures. The pedicures were great with the slapping,
pinching, hot towels, hot rocks, toe cracking and razor blading. MMMMMMMM. Heaven.
Funny how having things done to you which would normally make you consider filing
criminal charges are so nice when they’re done to your feet and legs. We were
all so relaxed and happy and enthralled by our beautiful, beautiful toes that
we did not notice what was being done to our fingernails. I will not go into detail,
but if you imagine that we had been eating marshmallow fluff with our hands you
would have a fair idea of the result. We are calling them "glamorous" and "fancy"
and "dressy" and every other thing we can think of to call them. We keep peeking
at each other’s nails to try and get a better idea of what ours will look like
to others.
I will only tell you one other thing about it. I had to buy
a bra today. A special bra made for wearing with an evening dress. I know it isn’t
nice to talk about money, but I spent more on that bra than I have probably spent
on all the other bras I have owned in my life combined. It’s a doozy. Maybe it’s
good enough that my hair will not be the first thing people notice. I don’t know.
All I do know is that I cannot wait for the wedding (I stocked up on Kleenex)
and the reception and my eventual grandchildren. Just can’t wait. And when it
is all over I am going to have a long snooze and spend a whole day not planning
anything. And I’m going to cross my fingers that the bride’s sister waits a couple
of years or ten to fall in love and get married. Although the second time around
will probably be easier.
© Elizabeth
Bussey Sowdal
"The
Girl Detective's Theory of Everything"
December 18, 2009 Column |
