The Tiara Trio

Recently, the Sisterhood decided to take a short vacation just to “clear the cobwebs,” relax and above all, maximize the fun factor. We had originally planned a visit to Montreal but instead ended up on Vancouver Island in beautiful British Columbia, Canada….its a long story.

Of course we are first and foremost planners. Each sister was charged with bringing an activity so at various points we found ourselves playing Big Sis’ favorite card game called “Sticks”, a version of charades called “Heads Up” favored by Middle Sis and working on our hand eye coordination with Little Sis’ ball contraption. (Big Sis really wanted Middle Sis to plan a “Kerri-Oke” activity, however, she firmly declined)

But little did we know that an afterthought on the part of Big Sis to bring along tiaras, would provide the most entertaining activity of the trip. In short, we decided that wearing the tiaras wherever we went would set just the right Sisterhood tone for our trip. Little did we know the fun and laughter these three shiny objects would provide.

Here Comes The Bride?

And so the Tiara Tour began. Once settled in our hotel, we decamped to the hotel lounge and while bolstering ourselves with some “liquid courage,” we recommitted to wearing the tiaras in public. Once that was established, we realized that we needed a back story to really make it work. So we decided we would say we were celebrating Little Sis’ pending marriage. It had taken some gentle persuasion (arm twisting actually) to convince Little Sis to be the “bride” in our scenario. (To add some intrigue we decided that it would be her third marriage.) As it turned out we made the right choice, as she proved to be very good at improvising and embellishing, adding details about the fictional date, dress and groom as needed.

After bolstering ourselves with a wee bit more “liquid courage,” we were ready to venture out into the world wearing our tiaras. We knew we were on to something when, just a few steps out the door of our hotel, a young woman grinned at us and said “Good for you, paint the town red.” Spurred on by this early success, for the next two days we proudly wore our tiaras, reminding ourselves of our Sisterhood mantra “We Will Never See These People Again” and had an absolute blast!

Let There Be Light

Somewhere along the way we had a light bulb moment and realized we had inadvertently conducted a social experiment. Recognizing that the information we collected would be fascinating and invaluable to brides-to-be everywhere, we wanted to make sure that our “findings” got out there in a way that was easy to understand and useful to tiara wearers. To this end, we decided to organize our experiences into four categories:

Couldn’t care less: Those who had no reaction to our tiara wearing at all. Most in this category were busy looking at their phones and didn’t seem to notice our tiaras, or perhaps they see tiaras all the time so it was nothing unusual in their world. This category also included those who would try and sneak a peek when they thought we weren’t watching, then scurry on by.

Mildly interested: Those who noticed the tiaras and smiled as they walked by but didn’t say anything. We surmise they were perhaps thinking that they should have worn their tiara or more likely wondering who these crazy women were.

Engaged: Those who would stop and ask what we were celebrating, and would routinely offer congratulations to our “bride.” Often they would ask for details and this is where Little Sis’ improvising skills came in especially handy. Of note, when we mentioned that it would be her third marriage, there were raised eyebrows, gasps of disbelief, and in some instances outright skepticism. This category also included two children who commented on how pretty our tiaras were and a gentleman who just shook his head and remarked that “he didn’t want to know” as he walked past. And finally, the woman who asked but didn’t really want to hear our answers, as she frantically tried to catch up with her companions.

All in: Those who engaged us in more in-depth conversations, many of them unusual. Included in this category is a woman who offered hearty congratulations to our “bride” and shared that she was only on “Step One”, being engaged for the last 10 years with no intention of ever getting married. Then there was the gentleman who thought we were “the Queen” but when he saw “the guards” sit down he knew we weren’t the Queen because “the Queen’s Guards would never sit down.” This interaction was at about two in the afternoon and so we postulate that perhaps a few brews had been consumed before we encountered him.

Now that we are home and the tiaras have been put away for the time being, we feel a responsibility to see that this information gets out into the world and so have begun searching for a peer reviewed journal that might be interested in publishing our work. Sadly, no takers yet, but we remain forever optimistic.😉

We plan on publishing one more post before we take a summer break, so stay tuned for more about our latest Sisterhood trip coming next week.