Save the Date

1

I sat at my desk staring at the manila envelope. The bell rang which signalled the end of my break. I sat there staring at my name written in lilac calligraphy for thirty minutes, unable to move. As the kids came filing noisily back into my class, I slipped my index finger under the glued-down flap and tore it open. It was a wedding invitation. Another one!                                                                                                 It took me by surprise that people still sent actual invites and not electronic ones. I quickly scanned the card although I already knew what it would say: "At the request of Mary and Dave Vanderbilt, mother and father to Shannon Vanderbilt, and Christiaan and Carissa Black mother and father to Richard Black, you are cordially invited to attend the blessed union of two lives". I snorted at the word "cordially". Was there ever anything cordial about a wedding? I eyed the RSVP deadline, the wedding was in two months, and the deadline was two weeks before that. The rest of the logistics were further down the invitation but I didn't read that. Mentally I sighed before the bell rang again.

It was Friday afternoon and school had let out at the usual time. I had gone home with the thought of the upcoming wedding in mind. I met Shannon at university. We had been roommates and quickly became best friends. I had always been a hard worker, and that trait became even more apparent in university. I'd studied and got good marks but it left little time for anything else. At the time a relationship had been at the bottom of the priority list and the one boyfriend that I did have at the time broke up with me and I had barely even noticed. And now at twenty-four, I was considered the oldest of my friends who were still single. Except for perhaps Patrick, who was single by choice. And loving life.