Yesterday I drove 90 miles to celebrate the impending birth of one Lord Bryson with his mother Lacey who became a friend of mine 3 years ago while working at a health insurance company. Lacey is a bubbly sorority girl who was born & raised in a town of about 1800 people. She moved back there after college then met & married a tall freckled face army boy named Brett. They have been trying to have a baby for the past 2 years and after a few failed in-vitro attempts they finally became pregnant and couldn't be happier. I promised her I would come to the shower several months ago when she asked for my address to invite me but as the date grew closer I got a little worried because I knew I would have to face a group of people that I haven't seen in almost a year & my ex still lives there.
I spent 3 and a half years at the insurance company which is really 3 years longer than I should have stayed there and my time there was largely negative. A lot of people there were pretty mean to me not because of anything I said or did but simply for the fact that I was the new girl in town with goals and I didn't engage in petty office drama. I never really fit in with the exception of a few people there who were kind to me and Lacey was one of those individuals. She was always positive and liked to have fun so we got along very well. In fact our friendship actually began because the ex invited her out one Saturday with our little group and we were the only ones who chose to spend the night out on the dancefloor. We requested all the same songs from the DJ and spent the whole night laughing and dancing. We exchanged numbers and the rest as they say is history.
Anyways, her shower was quite the event as I expected it would be. She is having a boy so everything was blue and adorable. Her husband was there also so they spent the first hour going around to each table to greet everyone while they rest of us sat and mingled. I showed up right on time at 2pm and said a small prayer before I entered the hall hoping that the Lord would give me the strength to make small talk for at least 2 hours. I dropped my gift off at the gift table and spotted a group of girls from my former job. Rachel one of the girls who had been kind to me was there so I said hello to her and was invited to sit town with everyone. I did get a few curious looks at first but surprisingly they all engaged me in friendly conversation. When I resigned from that job I told very few people that I was leaving so I'm sure the rumor mill swirled rather rapidly when they all realized I had left. They did have a lot of questions about where I went what happened but they seemed sincerely interested in what I was doing now. Everything was going great until the mother-to-be stopped by our table for a visit.
Lacey singled me out of the group which was to be expected because she speaks to the other women everyday and she hadn't seen me in about 3 months. I made the usual pregnancy small talk "How are you feeling?" "Are you excited?" "Did you decide to let the baby sleep in a cage?" you know the staple questions and then very loudly in front of everyone she announced that her husband had a guy she wanted me to meet. It's true I would love to meet a good man to date and share my life with but no one wants me to find love more than Lacey. I don't think I've ever given off a desperate vibe as it is rare I ever speak about men at all when I spend time with my friends but she has been on the lookout to find me someone ever since she met me. Apparently Brett has an army friend who is tall, muscly, rides a Harley, and goes by some kind of ridiculous nickname like Python or something. He doesn't sound at all like someone I would be interested in but she said he was cute & single so I guess that's the only important criteria for a 30 something single woman.
It was embarrassing to say the least as I was sitting at a table with 4 other women who had all seemed to find men willing to marry & impregnate them all on their own when they were in there 20's. I must mention that Michelle was sitting at our table who is also in her 30's and single and I think was slightly offended that no man was offered to her. If I'm ever given Python's number I will simply slide it over to her for a good time. Lacey spent about 5 minutes trying to sell him to me and even dragged poor Brett into this mess as he struggled to give me any details about him that I may find interesting. Luckily she dropped it and moved on to the next table. We spent the next two hours eating and watching her open gifts. In my opinion my gift was of course the best because I didn't get her anything practical. She is a big planner so I knew she already had everything she really needed because she had been stocking up on supplies since she was 8 weeks along. I got the baby an Adidas track suit with a matching t-shirt.
After I left the shower I met up with another friendly face Jana & her teenage daughter who I had also worked with and we spent nearly 2 hours catching up. It is so nice to sit and visit with genuine people who you can be open with. I really miss having that in my life on a daily basis. As I drove through the town to go back home my mind was flooded with memories of the dreaded ex. Some places brought back memories of happier times when we were on good terms but there were still several places that brought me to tears remembering the things he said and did that broke my heart. He knew that I was going to be in town and has said that he wanted to see me in person to give me a proper apology. He couldn't even find 10 minutes out of his day to come meet me somewhere and say what he wanted to say which shows me just how little I mean to him. The drive home was pretty depressing as I sat there thinking about that but today is a new day and I have to continue to try and move on which is harder some days than others. Top & skirt are from J.Crew, shoes are Gianni Bini, & jewelry are from Banana Republic.
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