[Marilyn]

Wow, that's quite a saga. I don't understand the whole thing about the shower you are throwing for her. Must be cultural differences. Here we mail out invitations to the event. The work is determining a location, decorations, cake, punch, nuts, mints and buying a gift. That's about all there is to throwing a shower. I don't understand calling to invite people, the posters downtown or the donation envelopes left in stores. That sounds like a lot of work to do in addition to the other shower arrangements. People here would not know what to make of all of that.

She had better be a really good friend for all you are doing. A dear friend of our oldest daughter had her as a bridesmaid in her wedding. Our daughter bought an expensive dress, flew to Las Vegas, spent 3 or 4 days there helping with everything, flew home, and since that day has not had any contact with the bride. None at all. Our daughter left voice mails, sent text messages. She was deleted as a friend on MySpace. She has no idea why this happened. She was out quite a bit of money for a "dear friend". They had known each other several years, had been through a lot together, and were very close. She took care of the bride when she got sick at her bachelorette party, did a lot of the work a maid of honor would do, and the thanks was to be cut off. We have never heard a reason why, and this was a couple of years ago.

Hope all goes well, and that your friend truly appreciates all that you are doing and that you maintain a long and happy relationship. Experiences like this teach us life lessons. Just hope your lesson is a rewarding and happy one.