So this weekend (October 13,2007) My best friend Heather got married in Maryland to her wonderful Partner Jenny. I have been planning this trip for 3 months. About 3 weeks ago-Heather asked me to sing at her weding. I was very excited. I thought long and hard about how I was going to get to said event. I do not drive and would be flying into national airport at 9am the day of, and I needed to arrange a way to get to Maryland by 3pm. Now I had many options. People I could have asked to take me. I chose to ask a friend from high school whom knew Heather, (so he wouldnt feel like he was out of place or didnt know anyone). I called and asked him to go two months ago. I made it very clear, that the reception was in the evening, so I wanted to make sure he would be able to take off work for the night. He assured me this would be no problem. In the months that followed, I got a dress, the perfect shoues, and my plane ticket. All the while calling him weekly to check in, and make sure everything was in place. I was assured all was a go, and that I would be picked up on time, be able to power nap, and shower and change in plenty of time to arrive in Maryland by 3pm.
Thursday October 11th, 2007: 7:40am My phone rings. Its my weding date. He says that his girl is freaking out about me staying at his place, and he wanted to be sure we were on the same page about the sleeping arrangements. (um...well we are now, seeing as this was the FIRST I had heard of him even having a girlfriend) Now I feel awkward about staying with him, so I call a friend in Va and ask if it would be cool if I arrive like around midnight after the reception and stay with him. He of course says no problem because his fiance was having a small surgery and would be doped up all weekend anyway. Whew...problem averted and I am ready for the weekend.
Sat October 13th, 2007: 5:30am Chicago, IL
I hit my front door with luggage in tow, and meet Chirs who has graciously agreed to take me to Midway Airport at this ungodly hour, on his way to a 7am call at Harpo studios. I board the plane without incident and take off at 7:10am. I promptly pass out, because I have only had 3 hours of sleep, as I was attending a work function till midnight the night before. In what seems like a milisecond, I am woken by the forward thrust of the landing cycle, and I am on the ground in DC. Local time 9:45am...right on scedule! :)
9:50am I text my ride, and ask where he is. "10 min out" he replies. (I learn later that when he gives you a time, you need to add at least 15 min to that time if you wish for an accurate time to expect him.) No matter- it is a sunny day and I am chillin outside the terminal.
10:20 he picks me up. After plesantries, he says "yeah-I didnt get much sleep. My girl followed me home last night. she is still there sleeping." WHAT?? The girl who is already mad that he is taking me to a weding, and who totally Kaboshed my crashing arrangements is AT HIS PLACE where we are going now?? So I am going to have to endure this total awkward turtle moment on 3 hours of sleep?? Ok, fine, lets do it and get it over with.
10:45am we arrive at his place. All I want to do is nap. But I make pleasent talk with the girl, and finally I can pass out on the couch for a mere hour and 15 min before I need to be up and in the shower to get ready. As I am laying there, I hear his bedroom door close and the music gets turned up REALLLY LOUD. So loud in fact that all my hopes of falling asleep now were dashed. Then it hits me...hmmm...why do you close a door and crank your music? EEEEWWWW.... Are you trying to prove a point? I get it, you all are a couple, I am backing off, you dont have to do what I know you are doing while I am on the couch to prove this point. Tacky...to say the least. After about 20 min, they emerge, she wakes me up to say goodbye, he says he is going to work for a while, but he will be back in time to get ready and be out the door by 1:30 to make the drive to MD by 3pm. Finally...sleep....
12:35pm: My alarm goes off. Ok, I am up. Now to shower and get beautiful, and salvage what I can of this day. It is after all my best friends weding day. I have been looking forward to this for months, I want it to be perfect for her. I walk to the bathroom and notice that there is no towel cabinet, so I hunt around the apt till I find what appears to be a clean towel. Now into the shower....
12:42pm: I stare, in sheer shock and awe at the sight before me. (See photo) Where the shower should be, is a half tiled, half gutted, debris filled tub, with no shower curtain and no knobs on the fawcet to turn on the water. Seriously?? SERIOUSLY??? Are you Kidding me?? I had told him I needed to take a shower? How had he neglected to mention that his shower was for all intensive purposes NON-FUNCTIONING!! SERIOUSLY!!!
12:45pm-I take a picture with my phone and send it to my girls back in chicago. They are equally appauled. One suggests that I try to french bathe in the sink. Not possible, I need to wash my hair, shave my legs, get beautiful for this weding I am singing at in mere hours!! I call my host. "WTF?? MAN?" He directs me to where the knobs are, where the shower curtain is, and what to do with the shit in the bottom of the tub. I shower. Wash my hair with Axe Body wash cause he has no shampoo, and super condition it so it wont look totally crappy.
1:30pm: I am ready to go. No sign of my date arriving home from work to change yet...I text. Within' 10 min he arrives and changes into his suit, and we are out the door. On the ride up to the weding, we are blessed by free moving traffic on 95 and those of you from the DC area know full well what a blessing that is! So at least God is smiling on me in that sense. But in the hour long drive up, he hits me with the final straw...he has to WORK at 11pm. So we will have to leave by 8pm to get me to where I am staying in time to get him to work on time. What part of "can you get off work cause it is a late reception" didnt he understand? He claims that something came up and he got called in. Well the way I see it, that is when you do one of two things. You A) tell your boss no I am in Maryland at a weding. or B) you call your weding date so she can get someone ELSE to take her to the weding. Now I am pissed! So pissed if I could have pushed him out of the car on 95, stolen his truck and taken my own self to the weding, without going to jail I totally would have! No matter, its Heather's day and I am going to make it on time, and sing like an angel for that girl no matter what.
3:30pm: I meet the guitar player. Truely the highlight of my day at this point. He is terribly cute, very funny, talented, smart and rehearsing with him for the 40 min before the ceremony was the most fun I had had all day. And at 4pm the weding went off without a hitch.
5:30pm: we mosey over to the reception hall, and meet up with friends from High School , have several glasses of wine, delicious appetizers, and good conversation. Things are looking up. At this point my plan is to NOT tell my date what time it is, as his phone has died, and he has no other way to tell time. I am hoping to just stay as long as I can till he figures it out. Dinner is yummy, there is more wine, and finally I am able to catch a moment with Heather. As I am on my way to catch up with her, I am snagged by my date who informs me we have to go in 10 min. Boooo. They are just beging to dance, and they havent cut the cake. It isnt a weding without cake! But ok, whatev- I knew this moment was comming.
8:10pm: I am in the hall with Heather where I break the bad news. She is visibly upset. "is there no train? No Cab? No other way for you to get to Va?" No there isnt. She says she will be right back- and when she returns she says she is going to give me a hundred bucks to take a cab to Va after the reception."NO WAY!" I tell her. I am so not going to take her money on her weding day to take a cab to Woodbridge, when honestly from where we were it would probably be like $250, and thats just ridiculous. I told her I loved her for the thought, but I had to go. We huged, I went and said my goodbye's to her folks and my friends, and new friends (cute guitart player) and headed out. I think I got one picture with Heather on my camera, and I think the Photographer might have got one more...but honestly I kinda felt like I wasnt even there cause everything had been so rushed, and I was whisked away so early.
By 10:20pm I was safe and sound at Kevin's house with a Yeungling in hand. I had a lovely time with one of my oldest friends. I recounted my day, and in the end I felt muich better.
Now I know this Blog might seem really harsh on the person it is about. And honestly I hope it is. Because I was totally wronged. There were MANY different choices this person could have made at any time during the three months leading up to this day, that could have saved me the ordeal that this day had become. Several other people I could have asked to take me, several other arangements I could have come up with. His tacktic of hitting me with things last min, one after another when I had only 3 mere hours of sleep was FLAT OUT WRONG, IMMATURE, AND THOUGHTLESS. And I am probably going to be quite upset about this one for a long time. But thats life I guess and life happens...even to the best laid plans of Brides and Women.
