My Best Friend’s Wedding

When the phone rang at work this past Friday, my hand instinctively grabbed for the receiver. By the time I noticed the caller ID I cringed because this was not a conversation I wanted to have.

“This is Ms. Tee,” I answered in my most professional office voice.

“Hey girrll..” her voice purred into the phone.

I stared at my lap, not knowing what to say.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

I was quiet.

“You’re not coming?”

“No,” I mumbled weakly trying to hold in the tears. I couldn’t be caught crying at work again.

“Naw…Man…I didn’t call you to get this bad news. Are you serious? Are you just playing and you’re gonna surprise me and show up?”

“No. I wish I was. I just don’t have any money to fly down there, dawg. I tried. I even asked Donovan if he would send me and he told me he didn’t have it.”

“But it’s not going to be the same. You were supposed to ride with me in the limo and we were gonna get drunk and cry and hold each other on the way to the wedding.”

“I woulda been right there with you, dawg.”

“Dawg,” she paused. “But it’s okay. I guess we’ll just have to meet up one weekend and I can show you all the pictures and tell you the story while we sip some wine or something.”

I could feel the heartbreak over the phone.

Here I go. Me sitting in Dallas, Texas, lonely as hell, chasing a dream while one third of my childhood trio was getting married and I couldn’t attend.

Anna.

If you had asked Anna, any number of years ago, what she envisioned for her life in order to be successful she would have said, “I want a family and a husband who loves me.” That’s all she wanted. Now she has that..and I can’t be there to celebrate with her.

Today was her wedding. The other third in our childhood trio, Tamara , called me during the reception to let me hear the background noise so that I could feel like I was a part of the celebration.

Anna had done a great job of keeping me connected during her wedding planning process. She sent me pictures of her dress, described every detail as she made decisions and even let me write the content for her wedding website. She even called me during her bridal shower to joke with me. That made me feel so special.

I have such wonderful friends. My standards so high because of them. With Anna and Tamara, they taught me how to love women. They taught me how to be a good friend. Remember how I met them? It was freshman year of highschool and I was in the same situation that I am in now. I went to a highschool in a different neighborhood and I didn’t know anyone.

They saw me sitting by myself at lunch and they invited me to have lunch with them. I turned them down at first because I thought Anna was way too wild to be my friend. But they invited me again and I accepted and we’ve been bestfriends ever since. We even have a song- It’s Count On Me by Whitney Houston.

They both have such giving hearts. They included me in their friendship and they didn’t know me. They embraced me and never gave up on me even though I used to have such a problem communicating without yelling or being harsh. Everytime you turned around they had some new person they were taking under their wing. Even though we were very popular in highschool, we weren’t exclusive. If you were new and didn’t have any friends, you could hang with us. And when you found new friends, we were happy to see you find your place.

I guess I can’t be sad about not being there to see her dream come true because it’s over with and Tamara just called me to tell me about how beautiful everything was.

Of all the problems I could have…not having money isn’t the worst. I’m grateful that my biggest problem can be solved by working harder. I have started looking for a side job to take care of it. I’m thinking I could be a restaurant hostess or something. You know I love smiling and making people feel good.

Ruby thinks I should teach a leisure course on writing. I think that’s a good idea.

My bestfriend Anna got married today. She is now a wife.

She has a husband. His name is Tray.

Anna has a husband.

Tamara and AJ are next. Their wedding is December 31st. She will become a wife too.

Damn…We’re growing up.