Tara Ahuja's Golden Rules

29: Mother & Daughter

"Mom, how could you let them plan a wedding a month before?" I asked. That was a still a question that irked me. The ridiculousness of the situation was eating at me..

My mom shook her head, rolling her eyes, "Ah, Tara, dear, we've been over this only about one hundred times these past couple of weeks," she said.

"I know," I said, "But you still haven't given me a satisfactory answer."

I realized that my harping at my mom wouldn't really get me anywhere, but I needed a way to voice my concerns. Ultimately, it was my mom who gave the go-ahead for this wedding to proceed in a rapid fashion.

The truth was that wedding planning was almost about to be done. It only took three weeks and a bunch of sleepless nights. I also think I endured so much stress that I probably grew so many premature white hairs. No one really tells you how much it really takes to plan a wedding. All the food—the damn food, the videography people, the make-up artist, the decorations, the invitations, the outfits, everything. It's all so much. The fact that we were just about almost done was actually pretty insane. I guess my family really was the dream team.

Not to toot my own horn, but a lot of it really was because of my mom and I as well. Not only did we complete tasks quickly, but we completed them well. That was not something I could say for the bride and groom, unfortunately. For some reason those two were taking this whole wedding thing lightly. I felt so stressed that it might as well have been my wedding.

Speaking of my mom, my mom and I's relationship came really far from when I was in college. I remember that my freshman year of college was when I really began opening up with my mom, even though it was ever-so slightly and through hypothetical questions. That was really only the beginning of what my mom and I's relationship grew to be.

After the whole Varun fiasco, it took me a couple months to tell my mom what happened, and surprisingly, she wasn't mad about it. I eventually told her every little detail and vented my feelings to her. She actually was very sympathetic about it, and I found myself very comforted by that. She was my only friend at a time when I had none. It's what led us to becoming best friends, something that I never thought could happen with my mom.

I remember constantly being jealous of those girls that held intimate and beautiful relationships with their mothers. I saw these girls and their mothers all throughout high school and college. They'd disclose all their feelings to their mom, go shopping with them by choice, and love them with all their hearts. I never ever thought that could be me, but things change all the time. It's kind of an exciting way to look at life.

My mom was over the moon when she heard that Varun was coming to Ajit and Dahlia's wedding. I could sense some hopefulness in her voice, but I ignored it.

It was hard not to feel hopeful about Varun. It was also hard not to think about the strong feelings I had for him. Just looking at him made at least some feelings come back, even though I hated to admit it.

My mom groaned as she folded the last tablecloth on the table.

"Just a couple more tasks to go," I encouraged.

"Yeah," she said, giving me a weak smile. Clearly she was exhausted too, and I couldn't blame her.

We decided to take a little break. Breaks were very limited in our wedding planning time. There was no time to slack, but I figured that since we were almost done we could spare a little time. Dahlia and Ajit were out finalizing the catering for the events.

"Ajit got really luck, huh, with Dahlia and everything," my mom said.

The fact that my mom had mentioned this a couple of times throughout our wedding planning time together spoke volumes. I'm pretty sure she adored Dahlia, as she rightfully should.