blog entry

Shopping with the Monster

Sunday I went shopping for three brides-to-be, and the green-eyed monster was my constant companion. The Laurens (two of my sorority sisters,) got gifts for their new homes, and Candice (who’s marrying my best friend’s brother) got some rather tame lingerie.

Envy first bit me in housewares isle while I shopped for the Laurens’s gifts. There was an Italian glass bowl, a gorgeous set of margarita glasses and two apothecary jars that had my name on them... the price was right and I could envision myself enjoying them in my (imaginary) apartment. There was the leather bench that doubled as a storage trunk, and a woven magazine rack that would look picture perfect on the coffee table in my non-existent living room... it was all I could do to press on through the Laurens’s gift registry.

Then came the lingerie. Unless you are in Victoria’s Secret, (sans creepy old men who lurk alone,) people STARE YOU DOWN when you shop for lingerie. I can’t quite explain it, but I swear I can actually hear their judgemental thoughts. For a person who is DEFIANTLY not getting ANY kind of “action” whatsoever, this is incredible awkward. When my eyes landed on a modest Hello Kitty sleep shirt, I snatched it of the rack and made a hasty retreat.

Let’s be honest... my life has become rather stagnant. My boyfriend of nearly four years (mentioned in prior entrees) is now my ex-boyfriend, so there is certainly no “love nest” that needs feathering any time soon. While I still live with my parents, my friends are moving on to the next phase in their life. I am thankful for their happiness, but I can’t help but wish that someone would buy me a Venetian-style wine rack or a set of Crate and Barrel oven mitts, too.

I’ve never been married, but I’ve heard it’s hard work... especially that first year. Perhaps all the great pre-wedding gifts (especially the lingerie!) make the pill a little easier to swallow. I kept telling myself that as I lugged their gifts (and the bag of my own self-pity purchases) to the car.