We hosted a wedding reception on Saturday. I use the term “reception” loosely — it was a casual potluck for friends who got married in Georgia and all the guests were fun and laid back, just like the couple who got married.
And yet, Hart’s migraine hit five minutes after the final guest left (literally). Mine came on in the wee hours of Sunday morning and I finally got out of bed an hour ago. Hart has a pattern of getting a migraine after stress has let up. Because he was worried that I would crash, he was also more anxious about the event than I was.
I’m annoyed by my migraine because I was so careful with my time and my body beforehand. My deadline for getting things done on the house was May 31. Since then we’ve been doing small things with one task each night or a manageable number of tasks on the weekend. We hired someone to clean the house two days before the party.
I really felt little pressure. With the deadline, we finished all the necessary work to make the house feel like it’s ours. That provides relief all on its own. Preparing for the party knowing that we were celebrating the marriage of two great friends was so much fun. And it was the first big party in our Seattle home, which we bought with entertaining in mind.
Perhaps it’s an inevitable part of headache disorders. Migraineurs get letdown headaches and tension-type headachers get pre-party headaches. (That’s a sweeping generalization, of course.) I love to throw parties, so it makes me angry. The latest Real Simple has an article about a couple who throw stress-free parties frequently. Next time I’ll try to follow their lead.
(P.S. Bride, if you’re reading this don’t worry, really. We had a great time and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.)