Showered With Love--Part I, The Reveal

Or, "How Ellie Lied to Jessi and Completely Tricked Her"

Can you see the incredulous look on my face?
Yeah, I just figured out  the party was for ME

I knew that Ladies of Honor Carrie & Karina, together with Sister in Law Heidi, were throwing a Shower--this fact had been confirmed time and again despite my protests to everyone that I didn't really want one, nor should they put so much work and effort into something that wasn't very important in the grand scheme of things.

They threw one anyway.

I actually enjoyed it. Other than that whole "opening presents in front of other people" thing. I still feel that is a load of crap and no one actually wants to see the lovely bride open card after card and gift after gift. I have proof this is true!

But onto the day itself. Ellie took the day off, claiming to need a "mental health day" that Mental Health Workers get so few of, and suggested we go somewhere new for a walk; a co-worker had suggested someplace in Weymouth, which turned out to be Webb Memorial State Park. The first thing I do at a place like this is read the bulletin board, which usually has a map and historical information. As we walked toward the park, I noticed a large pavilion with paper lanterns and a bunch of people. Commenting with a cheery "Oh wow, this actually would be a great place to have a party," I blindly kept to the task at hand--taking that walk we had planned before the day got any later, and thus, hotter.

See, Ellie had been dawdling all morning on Saturday. I'm not much of one for getting right out of bed or anything, but I'm also VERY much not one for spending copious amounts of time outside in the heat, which is what we'd have been doing at 12:30. Yet we stopped for breakfast (which was nice--we usually eat our bagels in the car), then putzed around the pet store and Goodwill. it was all I could do to get her moving!

So we're at the park and Ellie starts pulling me away from the board even though she KNOWS I like to read them. I realize she's steering us near the pavilion. I understand her desire to check it out, but there's a party happening, we can't just go spectate on a party! She turns with a doofy smile on her face and says, "Yes, this is a REALLY good place to have a party..."

She can tell you the truth, but I think it took a few more steps and recognizing someone (I can't remember who, it was more noticing familiarity than a genuine recognition) near the pavilion before everything clicked and I realized this was the shower. All of a sudden my eyes began to actually SEE people and come to terms with what was happening, it was all very surreal for a while as I'm trying to act with grace, joy and not let my anxiety completely take over.

Part two is HERE...