I had another near-freakout today, only rather than labels, this time it was over money. When I learned that my hair/makeup person would be, roughly, eleven thousand billion trillion dollars (more or less), I panicked knowing full-well that I couldn’t afford it. But, before I let it consume me, I figured out ways to fix the problem. Rather than having her travel to my house, I’ll go to her. I’ll cut services. It’ll be okay.

That problem was avoidable.

But then there are other problems, ones that can’t be fixed by a simple phone call and schedule change.

The lady who altered my wedding dress is a friend of my mom’s. She hemmed my dress, took in the top (because, let’s be honest, I’m quite flat in that area), and created the bustle. She also altered my mom’s dress, took in my dad’s suit, and even shined Samir’s shoes. She charged us…absolutely nothing. NOTHING. Of course, I had to do something, so I ended up paying her a very minimal amount (compared to how much everything would have cost had it not been her doing it.) She had to keep her shop open, after all; she had to pay her assistant.

Of course, she refused the money, wanting to do everything for me as a gift. After much debate, we decided to give the money to her assistant, who did a lot of the sewing. A tip, if you will.

A few years ago, much like my mother, her assistant had breast cancer. She’s fine now, but since all of the treatment is so expensive, she hasn’t been able to go back for a check up. She can’t afford it. So we gave her the money, with strict instructions on what she’s to do with it. She started crying. My mom started crying. I started crying. It felt so good to be able to help this woman.

It was an emotional mess. But a good one, for once.

Her problem? Unavoidable. Medical issues happen; they happened to my mom, who was quite healthy prior. So compared to that, hair and makeup seems just so…trivial and it’s nice to remember what…and who…really matters most.