The Last Minute Decision

The Last Minute Decision 

“ We have plenty of time,” Maire’s mother said. With less than 72 hours to go Marie realized she was running out of time.  She would be saying I do and she was not nearly ready.  The last 6 months have gone by way too fast.  She was busy planning for her wedding.  Everyone has been so much help.  There were so many decisions to make that she just was getting very overwhelmed. She kept asking herself why she had procrastinated on so many, maybe things  would be ready by now.   She never imagined meeting such a wonderful man.  He treated her so well, so maybe it was cold feet or maybe she really didn't want to get married at all.   

Marie is a hairstylist, she loves her career.  He had dreamed of being a successful hairstylist since she was a little girl.  Marie grew up in a very small town.  The town only had a gas station and a grocery store.  It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone.  After high school Marie attended the local beauty school in the next city about 25 miles away.  She graduated top of her class and was well on her way to having a successful career.  She settled in the same town as the school and worked for a corporate salon company.  She put everything into her career.  To Marie nothing matters more to her than being successful. She had a lot of people that were always there for her.  Her mother Betty, her best friend, Cindy and many coworkers.  They would often make comments that she should find herself a nice man and start to settle down and have a family, but that was just not what Marie wanted.  They even would call her a workaholic sometimes. Although it never bothered her.  She was doing what she loved.  She wanted to some day work in a big city and be a very successful hairstylist. 

One day Marie and a couple of her coworkers went to a big hair show like they did every year.  This was one of their favorite things to do.  All the stylists around come together and have so much fun learning new things, scoring deals on new tools and just spending time together.  Marie noticed a booth in the corner that had a great big now hiring sign.  She went over to check it out.  It was for a top dollar salon they were looking to fill 5 positions at a new salon they were opening in New York.  Marie could believe it.  She thought to herself that this could be the big break that she had been waiting for.  She was really hesitant, she would love to get a job like this but she was very unsure that she had the experience and with it being so far from home it would take a lot of work to build a new clientele.  It was something she had always dreamed of.  So she applied, she figured that if she didn't at least try she was never going to accomplish her dream.  

It wasn't even 5 days later and Marie was on her way to New York to see the new salon that she was going to be working at.  The company had hired her in just the first interview as their top stylist.  Marie was on to her way to live her dream.  Everyone was sad that she was leaving but at the same time they were so excited for her to get this opportunity.  Plus they all had an amazing place to go visit now. Marie settled in New York and was loving her new job.  She had met lots of new friends, and was living her dream.  Marie and her friends were out to dinner one night after work when she met Mark.  They were sitting at the bar having a few drinks waiting for their table to be ready when a very handsome, very nicely dressed man came up to her and offered to buy her a drink.  He was very interested in Marie.  Marie and  Mark talked for a long time that night, when the waitress told the girls that their table was ready, Mark then offered for Marie to join him for dinner instead, she made sure her friends didn't mind and she joined Mark for dinner. Maire had a wonderful night with Mark. She thought that maybe she even loved Mark. 

Mark and Maire had been dating for about a year, he treated her so well, buying her expensive gifts, taking her on amazing trips, and even asking her to join him on a lot of his business trips.  She would join him to go to his lavish cocktail parties.  She could not ask for a better man.  The problem was that Maire did not care about the money, the expensive gifts or even his expensive trips that he would take her on.  She just enjoyed her time with him, but  these things made him happy and that is what was important to her.    Mark didn't quite understand why those things were not important to her but it did not bother him to spoil her.  

One weekend about 2 years into the relationship,  he planned a very nice trip for the two of them to take together.  Marie was excited, this trip was not like the other ones that he had planned before.  Mark was taking her to spend a quiet weekend in the mountains, just the two of them in peace and quiet with no one to bother them.  Mark had plans to ask Maire to marry him, and Marie had no idea.  

Marie and Mark are now engaged to be married and her mother Betty, best friend Cindy,  and friends back home are so excited, they are so happy that Marie has finally found happiness and can settle down and have a family.   

Mark has told Maire to plan the wedding of her dreams, that money is not an object.  Marie doesn't seem to be in too much of a hurry to get any of the planning done, but when she asked Mark’s option his only comment is, “whatever you would like honey.” So Marie starts to become irritated with Mark’s pleasure or throwing money at her to keep her happy.   Betty and Cindy call Marie often to see how wedding plans are coming and every time they call she is not any further along than when they called her last time.  The two start to become very concerned. Is Marie having second thoughts?

The wedding is now 6months away and the only thing that Maire has done is gotten  a dress, booked a venue, with a cater and DJ., and this is only because Cindy came for a week and made her get them done.  Nothing else has been done nor has she given it any thought.  It's as if she doesn't want anything to do with her own wedding.

 During the week that Cindy is in New York with Maire they have a long talk about how Maire is feeling and doing.  Maire was honest with Cindy.  She admits that she is not sure she wants to get married, that Mark is an amazing guy, but feels like they want a lot of different things in life and is not sure if there is a future. Cindy understands, and tells Marie that she needs to talk to Mark before it's too late. Marie puts the thought to the back of her mind. 

It's the day of Maire’s wedding shower. Cindy has done such an amazing job planning the shower. The shower was held in her home town at her Mother and Father’s home. She wanted to make sure they did some of the wedding stuff there as they had decided to get married in New York.   Maire is looking forward to seeing all her family and friends that she has not seen in a long time. She sits in her bedroom that she grew up in getting ready for the shower when her mother comes in.  Marie confides in her mother of the feeling that she has been having about not getting married.  Her mother tells her that the feelings are normal, that it is a big step in her life and it comes with a lot of change. That it is ok to feel that way, that is just cold feet. She heads down stairs to shower and has such an amazing time.  She is starting to get excited for the wedding, she is starting to think that all these feelings that she was having were indeed just cold feet, but the then the panic comes back there is so much to get done in such little time to get it done, but she knows that her support system form Betty and Cindy is amazing and they will be there to help her finish in time.  

So it's three day to the wedding and Maire has so much to do that she hates herself for putting so much of it off that she just sits on her bed and cries. She is supposed to meet with her Mother and Cindy today for lunch so they can make a plan to get everything finished.  As Marie sits there and cries she looks at herself in the mirror and realizes that all panic and all the hustle and bustle of planning a wedding is just not what she wants, she loves Mark, but she has been an independent women for so long that she does not want to be in a family full of money, she wants to be in family built of love, she doesn't want the lavish lifestyle, she wants her relations to be built solely on time spend together.  She knows that this wedding would be a mistake and that she would be miserable for the rest of her life.  She heads to lunch, very nervously to tell her Mother and Cindy that she is calling off the wedding.  

Marie and Mark go out to dinner the next day, and she decides that it's time that she and Mark had a heart to heart conversation about the wedding.  She had already told Betty and Cindy, they were disappointed but understood, they even said that in a way they could tell that something wasn't right about her, that she wasn't herself since she got engaged. 

So she talks to Mark openly and honestly at dinner and tells him her true feelings.  She doesn't want to get married and wants to call off the wedding.  Mark’s reply was shocking to her.  He says that he knows that he has been able to tell for a while that she was struggling and wasn't herself.  He could tell that the life he lives wasn't for her.  They both agree that it is the right thing to do and call off the wedding.  He tells her that he loves her and always will and she agrees. They finish their dinner and enjoy each other's company as they always have.  They give each other a hug and go their separate ways.  

Marie and Mark have stayed in touch and become very good friends, they even make sure to hang out whenever they can.  Mark gave her a gift that no one could ever give her.  She found out who she really was, she is a person that doesn't need material things, that happiness is really just the small things in life.  The memories and the people and our experiences in our lives.  

The End