Anger: The Day Before My Wedding

Resentment is like a sore that slowly develops and eats away at your heart.  Over a period of days, weeks, and months this emotion can destroy us, and although there are people who hurt us through their words and their actions, and some find that it’s difficult to confront those who have harmed them, we must avoid harboring these toxic feelings in our hearts.  

That Evening

It was the evening before my wedding day, and all of the arrangements had been finalized.  The only thing that I was supposed to do was go home and look forward to the big day.  During this time I was living in an apartment with my long-time friend who would be my Maid of Honor, and the wedding was coming up.  She and I were so excited about the arrangements for the day, and we planned to carry our luggage downstairs on the next morning, and a relative would take them to my new home with his truck.  We would then head downtown, meet with my bridesmaids, have our hair done, and travel to my parent’s place in order to get ready for the big day to come.  I carefully packed my wedding gown and everything else that we would need for the day, and we took everything downstairs to wait for our ride.

However, we ended up waiting for several hours before heading out without any sign of our ride, and we agreed that my maid of honor should leave me with the luggage and she would head into town to meet the other bridesmaids and take them home instead of keeping everybody waiting.  After she left, several more hours passed without any word, and I was tired and hungry.  I couldn’t leave the luggage on the street, because they contained my wedding gown, the bridesmaid dresses, and travel documents, but I couldn’t bring them back to the house on my own either.  

Where Is Everybody?

More time passed, and no one was on sight. Most people had already gone to work, and it was now the afternoon.  How was I going to carry my luggage back into the house?  To be honest, I was becoming furious, and my first thought was to simply head back inside, eat, sleep, and forget about the whole thing.  However, just as I was about to head inside the truck arrived.

I stepped into the vehicle counting the amount of time that it would take to reach our destination, but the driver diverted to my in-laws home for some reason.  Now I my anger was continuing to build.  The wife of the owner of the truck came up to us and was surprised to find me there.  She began to indirectly insult me and asked me what I could possibly be doing at my in-laws home, but I tried to ignore her and did not reply.  Later, I learned that she was fighting with somebody else that day, but she seemed to act-out her aggression on me for some reason that was completely unrelated, so I was glad that I managed to keep my cool.  My first reaction was to get out of the vehicle and walk to the bus-stop to head back to where I was living at the time, but as I was walking away, some of the in-laws who were outside noticed, and they followed me.  Out of respect for my elders, I turned to listen to them, and they explained that they understood what had gone wrong and promised that they would do everything possible to get me back home.  One of them went to grab their car and drove me home, and I felt tired, hungry, and exhausted.  On the way home I was planning to tell everybody that the wedding was off for tomorrow, but I decided to simply let go and forgive everyone for whatever it was that caused all of those strange delays that day, because I recognized that there was no need to hold onto whatever resentment I was harboring the day before one of my most significant life events.

Gathering

Once I came home I found that my friends, family, and neighbors had gathered together there to spend time together and celebrate tomorrow’s wedding, I decided that I would not allow my anger to rob me of an opportunity to connect with my loved ones.  On that day I learned how to apply forgiveness, and I changed my focus to the things that would bring me joy and away from the things that would fuel my resentment.  The wedding turned out to be one of the most wonderful days of my life, and I am glad that I was able to release my hard feelings the day prior in order to embrace the festivities and joy of the next.

- Anonymous Contributor