Caught the Bouquet

On the weekend of Easter some friends and I drove to Johannesburg just to have a change of scenery and roadtrip/hangout. We left early in the morning at about 2:30 in the morning and eventually arrived in Jo’burg later that day about 2:30 in the afternoon. Yes a whoooole 12 hour long drive. I’ll definitely tell you more about the drive in a separate post.

While I was in Jo’burg I was torn as to when I would come back to Bulawayo because my friends I’d gone with were planning on coming back on [maybe] Wednesday. To be fair she was coming to see her boo so I fully anticipated the possibility of staying longer, but knew I couldn’t be away from home that long. A friend of mine was getting married in Bulawayo that Sunday, but I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to attend. That Saturday morning my grandmother called me telling me she wasn’t feeling well and asking when I would be back. That was all i needed to know  I was leaving THAT very day. I logged online and bought my Intercape bus ticket for the bus leaving at 6pm. I  was going to make it to the wedding after all. I got into Bulawayo on Sunday morning and showered and took a nap once I got home. Woke up and went to the wedding with my grandparents.

It was a lovely garden style wedding. The girl was getting married to a Belgian guy and his brothers and boys had come all the way for the ceremony. There was very good entertainment and the food was decent. The dance floor opened up and then the announcement for the bouquet throwing came. I smoothly and sharply went to take my seat with a childhood friend’s parents as we caught up and chatted a bit. Music stops and single ladies are asked to get on the dancefloor for the catching. I sat there and rolled my eyes because I always haaaaate this [silly] part.

My grandmother shouts from the other side of the room that “Pumpkiiiiiin!! Sukuuuuuuma [get up]!!” Oh snap, how do I say no or not  stand up? So I did. All the dressed up ladies are all screaming at the bride to throw it at them, some are pacing so as to maximize the surface area and probability of catching the bouquet. Since I was not the most excited to be up there I stood still in the back. The bride approaches, turns around and chucks the bouquet. Before the flowers even left her hands all the other ladies were screeching and jumping/dancing. As if in slow motion, all I did was put one arm up and the flowers came straight to my hand. I didn’t even lift my calf or ankle or anything [the heel on my shoe was so high I might have fallen had I tried to anyway).

I was glad I came back because my grandmother was happy and actually felt better with my return, but LOOK at GOD?! – I caught the bouquet for the first time I stood up 

Apparently I have a year according to the people who came to congratulate me. A year to do what I’m not really sure. It might be to have a wedding or it might be to meet someone….*shrug*. My mom, who wasn’t able to attend because she lives in South Africa and had traveled to Indonesia during the wedding, called the mother of the bride to confirm that I had in fact caught it lol…..

I came home and put the flowers in a vase. They died about 4 days later.

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*@afropolitaine*