Karma's a Bitch

We had a big wedding in the family this weekend. It was for a relative I had never met and will probably never see again, which makes what I'm about to tell you so much better than if this was someone I actually knew well. Before my parents came over to my house, my mom had called to ask me if I had a gift for the happy couple. I told her I was going to give them an ivory Lenox picture frame someone had given me a long time back. (Don't judge! I kept it in great condition in the original packing in the "regift" section of my linen closet.) She said, "Hmmm, why don't you save that for another wedding? I've got something nicer. Don't worry about the gift, I'll bring one for you."

Guess what she brought? A crystal vase. A giant one. In a giant gift bag that looked like it had seen at least one other home before it landed in mine.

Clearly, my mom just wanted to get rid of that thing. There was nothing wrong with the picture frame I was going to give, but it definitely took up less space than that giant vase someone gave my mother. I asked my mom why she wasn't giving the vase herself and she said, "Because I know them better than you do. You can give this gift, I can't. I have to give them jewelry." Great, she was giving the bride an elegant jewelry set, and I was giving them a useless vase. Oh well, I thought, at least it'll be out of my hands soon.

Now here's the best part. In our hustle and bustle to get to the reception on time, I forgot to take the crystal vase with me to the wedding. No big loss for the bride and groom. I'm sure they won't even notice that the relative they never met didn't give them another piece of crystal to add to their collection. It's me who is the unlucky one. I can't exactly go over to the bride's house now and say, "Hey, remember me, your long lost aunt who you never met until your wedding day? Well, I forgot to give you this obviously regifted crystal vase!" That would just be even more tacky than regifting the crystal itself.... not that there's anything wrong with that!

Now, not only am I stuck with a Lenox picture frame waiting in queue for regifting, I've got a giant-ass crystal vase sitting in my house (which my mom, by the way, conveniently "forgot" to take back with her. She regifted this crap to me!). To top it off, this was the last wedding I was going to attend this summer so I'm stuck with this thing until at least November, when the winter wedding season kicks in.

I think this is cosmic payback for all those years of regifting crystal to unsuspecting newlyweds. Bad karma finally caught up with me.