Diaries of a Bride to Be: Meet the Bride

This is weird. I can’t believe I’m writing a column with the word “bride” in the title. I never thought I would be engaged before the age of 30. By then, I believe most women have a rough grasp on who they are and what they want, and are somewhat successful and experienced in life, right? And once they’ve figured themselves out, then they can include another person in their life bla bla bla… all that crap got thrown out the window for me in the blink of an eye.

And with all the hilarious things that have happened since I got with my fiancé, from sneaky travels across continents to (almost violent) parents’ reactions, and of course the treacherous, drama-filled wedding preparations, I just had to share. Expect lots of embarrassing, awkward, forehead-smacking goodness.

But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves and let me introduce myself first. I’m a 22-year-old Egyptian, aspiring to be a political reporter. Not your typical girly girl, I was raised a middle child with two brothers whom I played wrestling and Lego with instead of Barbies and Baby Borns.

I hail from your typical Egyptian family, complete with a sea of cousins, loud voices, a thousand opinions, Friday lunch gatherings with never-ending food tables and gossip – and I LOVE IT (although it does get frustrating when you have no speck of privacy, like ever.)

My fiancé’s name is Yassine and he’s half Moroccan, half French… I can imagine some of you smirking right now, your minds wondering what my parents’ reaction was when I told them this little piece of information. Well, I can tell you right now, it’s exactly what you’re thinking and it wasn’t pretty! But that’s for another post – I’m saving the juicy stuff for later.

You’re probably waiting for me to tell you how it all started – how my fiancé whisked me away, how we fell in love at first sight, and how up till this very moment, life has been nothing but a fairy tale – all that’s left are rainbows and ponies. Well, to prove that that’s not the case, I WILL tell you how it all started, and what my exact feelings were (let’s hope my wedding plans are still on after this.)

There I was, in my hole-in-the-wall apartment in NYC, when my fiancé-to-be added me on Facebook (SO romantic), and I, naïve as hell, not fathoming how this certain friend request would flip my world upside down, was about to ignore it.

I’m not the type of girl who gets into relationships online. It’s sketchy and just plain weird. And I was offended that Yassine added me without even knowing me. My exact thoughts were, “Who is this weirdo? Does he think I’m that easy?” (Sorry honey, but it’s true!) His only savior was our mutual friend – my best friend. I saw her name and thought I’d ask her about this guy before I kicked him to the curb.

My best friend is a tough girl, which is part of the reason why I love her to death. She ain’t no hypocrite – if she doesn’t like you, you’ll know. And she doesn’t like a whole lot of people, but thank the Lord, her majesty allowed me to be in her presence as a friend. SO I expected her to brush him off and say “ahh da wahed ahbal” like she usually says about potential suitors.

But surprisingly, when I Whatsapped her she was actually complimenting him. Like the girl wrote two whole nice sentences about him. Not like her at all. Even when we were Skyping, her voice went up two octaves, complimenting his loyal, mature personality and his romantic side, which she discovered when he was talking to her about me.

Wait a minute, this stranger was talking about me? “How?” I asked. She explained that the reason he added me was because he accidentally saw my picture as she was flipping through her Facebook, and the first thing he said was “Alaa, this is the girl of my dreams.” And at that moment, my heart fell.

Not too bad, right? So I decided to accept his request (partly to see his pics and gossip with my roommate about it), and to see where it went.

Then for three months – 90 days! – no news from this guy. And the games begin. I see him online and wait for him to say something, but he doesn’t. I see something he posted on my homepage and spend hours debating whether to acknowledge him and comment. So. Frustrating.

Then one day, my best friend tells me that he and another friend of hers will be visiting her in Egypt for two weeks. Bingo. In all honesty, I wasn’t jumping out of my seat from excitement, but my heart did do a double take…

That’s it for this post. Yes, I’m leaving you hanging. Doesn’t feel good, does it? Ponder on that feeling a little bit, because that will be the topic of the next post…