Save the Date

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Save the Date

My husband is an awful procrastinator,  but not me.   On the contrary,  I’m compulsive and sometimes I act TOO soon,  which I’ve learned can be just as problematic.

There was the time I got a save-the-date for the out-of-town,  black-tie wedding of a friend’s son to be held on a date six months hence.

Save-the-dates don’t have reply cards or mine would have been in the mail that very day.  But I immediately marked my calendar and rushed to the closet to try on my best cocktail dress,  and then to check my husband’s tux.

Of course I wanted him to try it on,  but that was a losing battle.  “You want me to try on my tux for a wedding six months away,”   he said,  “are you outta your mind?”

But there was lots else for me to do –  firstly of course the wedding gift to select.   And as the ceremony was to be in Philadelphia we’d drive,  so no plane reservations needed,   but we would need a hotel room for at least two nights.   And I would see if there’d be time during the wedding weekend to see a childhood friend who now lives in Philly.

Googling the happy couple I found their requisite wedding website with their gift registry and lodging info.   With a few clicks I sent the perfect gift,  and with a phone call to the hotel I booked our room.   Then I emailed my childhood friend and told her I’d see her in Philly in six months.

And a few days later I called the mother of the groom with my congratulations.  “We’re delighted that you’re coming,”   she said,  “and what a surprise – your gift has come already,  the very first and only one to arrive so far!  You never procrastinate,  do you!”

About a month later she called me back.   “Sorry to tell you,”  she said,  “the wedding is off.”

And by the way the formerly happy couple never returned the gift,  so I assume one of them is enjoying his or her morning coffee from a rather costly espresso machine.

– Dana Susan Lehrman