Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 217(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
My mom, this is her absolutely favorite thing. Maybe it’s growing up in the south or maybe because we live a laid back beach life here on the coast, so when it’s time for fancy it’s a big deal. I don’t know. Mom, though, she loves to host everything for everyone.
And I mean everyone.
Even cousins get parties done up by mom. She’s great at it too. This though, I was honestly surprised that Carrie asked me to host it and not our mother. They are close too and mom loves any reason to pick out new glassware or dinner plates. I don’t think she has a China cabinet big enough for all of her stuff. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out she has had to get a storage unit for it all. She has the best of the best stuff though and I absolutely used some for the table settings here.
Sure, this isn’t my thing normally, but I know my sister and for her I’ll move mountains… or in this case, wear a damn dress and host her bridal shower. From the sheer fabric chair tie-backs in soft blushes to the champagne silverware, I have made sure every last detail is as precious as my sister. Custom backdrop for photos with fluffy pale pink roses in the softest paper give the perfect space for her to have pictures with every person near and dear. The guest list has everyone near, dear, and even neighbors from when we were in diapers got invited.
Aunts, childhood friends, work friends, friends of friends, my sister and mother have seriously invited everyone they know. Carrie keeps telling me, ‘I’m only doing this once, Sara, I can’t leave anyone out.’ Well baby sister, thank fuck to all of us this is a one-time thing because I don’t know how we could make it better if we did it again.
I’m proud to pull this all off. The internet has been my closest friend the last few months planning this. At times, I wasn’t so sure I didn’t need to pass on the job to someone more qualified, but somehow I’ve managed. Thankfully, I’m not afraid to ask questions, search the web, and enlist my friends like Josie from work to help me.
“Always the bridesmaid, never the bride,” my Aunt Nelda says coming up and giving me a hug, “but you’ll forever be the prettiest cat lady I know.”
Yes, this is the on-going joke because at thirty-three-years-old I have an amazing career, own my home, and have a retirement account. Bonus, I have started my own side hustle business with gourmet pecans. Truly, I am living my best life. The only thing missing is a significant other. Except, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.
Single and sassy, I love my life. Don’t let me deny it either, I do indeed have cats, two of them, along with two dogs, twelve chickens, and a goat. Judge me, joke about me, I don’t care. I have this one life and I’m living it my way, animals and all!
Carrie being exactly how she always is, taking my back in her own way, pipes up, “Sara will have her happily ever after. Some man is going to come in and grow on her. Like a carrot growing it might take a little longer, but it’s going to happen. When it does we are all going to love him as much as she does. She’ll be ready to give up the chickens and live in a suburb. She just hasn’t found him quite yet.”
Inside, I laugh. They all think I need some man to take care of me. I’m seriously good… me and my chickens. No man needed here.
“I know what she needs to do,” Aunt Nelda chimes in looking to my mother, “remember when we were teens sharing a room Elizabeth,” her enthusiasm is almost too much to take. “We wrote out our list of wants for our eventual husband.”
Momma smiles, “tall, dark, and handsome. I remember we both wrote that and he couldn’t be bald!”
Same story, different day. They love reliving this. Both women laugh at themselves because they happen to have bald husbands. I don’t remember if my dad ever had hair as I was growing up. I’m sure if I looked through old pictures I could find one. He’s shaved his head for so long now, if he had hair I might think he lost his mind and was ready for a retirement home. My dad, though, he’s far from hot. How he snagged my mom I don’t know because even in her fifties now she’s still absolutely beautiful. My Uncle, Aunt Nelda’s husband doesn’t make bald hot either, but they have been married like forever so they have love even if they don’t have looks.
Personally, a bald man with a beard is hot as it gets, but I’m not going to tell them that. I like my men a little rough around the edges. A beard, some ink, and a man who isn’t afraid to work up a sweat, sign me up for that dating app.