I don’t like being the center of attention. I’m more comfortable being slightly to the center of attention, making smart remarks and avoiding eye contact with my friends so we don’t laugh out loud. That made throwing me a bridal shower, bachelorette weekend, etc. unnecessarily difficult. My poor, exhausted friends. All they wanted to do was to show up for me, and I thwarted their plans every chance I got. That is until my college roommate turned best friend conspired with my sister to throw a surprise lingerie shower the night before my wedding.
First, I want to say it was a complete surprise. Second, it was so perfect I cried.
Kara and I spent our free time (and most of our time “studying,” let’s be real) watching three shows in college: Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, and Friends. We spent weekends snuggled in our respective lofted extra-long twin beds (in an L-shape) watching episode after episode of these three shows, only leaving our dorm to grab essentials like pizza and fries from the dining hall.
While Grey’s and OTH were always great on the weekends, we stuck to Friends in the mornings, in between classes, and at night because the episodes were short and oh so funny. To this day, that show is my go-to background noise much to my husband’s dismay.
So it’s fitting that when I walked into the Airbnb we rented the weekend of the wedding, I came face to face with a giant Friends poster and different food stations set up around the main floor of the house.
At “The One With Monica’s Candy,” we had a giant bowl full of my favorite chewy Sweetarts. At “The One With Phoebe’s Cookies,” there were chocolate chip cookies. Next to the cookies were bags of popcorn and a note that said “The one with all the wedding dresses where they have popcorn.” Then there were pickles because I love pickles and Monica had a “Pickles 1¢ ” in her kitchen.
On and on it went. Then I noticed picture frames sitting around. They all contained love quotes from the show. That’s when the tears started. I was just so grateful that I have such dear friends who understand me and show me love in ways I didn’t think I needed.
Thank God, Kara wasn’t actually there at this moment because she would have made fun of me like only roommates can.
“We look at you and we see you together and it’s just, it fits. Y’know? And you just know it’s gonna last forever.” -Joey
After we laughed and I cried a little more, they informed me that it was an actual lingerie shower despite my deepest protests. I’ll spare you the details, but I will say Kara nailed it with the party favors.
I’ll be there for you [coach] ‘cause you’re there for me, too…