Editor's note: Leila Wai is a sports reporter for The Advertiser and a 1997 Kaiser High School graduate. A former Division I soccer play at the University of Hawai'i, she joins our About Women rotation as an occasional columnist.

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The worst possible thing happened to me at a wedding the other day.

I caught the bouquet.

I swear it wasn't supposed to happen. I only went up for the traditional toss because my boyfriend's cousin asked me to watch his girlfriend, who was drinking a little and needed an arm to lean on.

But then IT happened. When the bride tossed the bouquet, it took two bounces on the table and, resembling a slow-motion horror story, ended up in my hands.

I tried to get out of the way, honest. But somehow, I moved in the wrong direction and failed to dodge the flowers. It's a blur, really.

When I caught it, I tried frantically to pass it off to anyone standing behind me, but they all moved away, those horrible people.

I even tried to give the bouquet to my boyfriend's 18-year-old sister, who is still in high school. She refused.

So, with a red face and knees shaking, I made the long, drawn-out walk to the back of the room where my boyfriend's family was sitting, ready with condolences.

I couldn't run for cover in my boyfriend's arms because as horrified as I was, he was apparently, ummm, indisposed. (Later, he told me when he saw me emerge with the fistful of flowers, he had an immediate urge to join some friends at the bar. Again and again. And again. But that's another story.)

I was thinking that it would be OK going into work the next day, because as far as I could tell, he didn't want anyone to know and I really, really didn't want anyone to find out.

But the first thing he did when he walked in was to tell one of the guys in the sports department.

Big mistake.

Try being in a relationship and one of a handful of unmarried people under 27 in your workplace. I don't know why, but the subject of marriage comes up at least once a day. Well, my potential marriage, at least.

And amid all the wedding talk in the sports department — one guy is getting married in July and another just got engaged — it feels like people are obsessed about walking down the aisle. Most of the people in the sports department are married, and the thought of another wedding seems to be appealing to them.

Well, no, that's not true. They just want a reception dinner at the Kahala Mandarin.

There is a bet in the sports department — which I refuse to take — that I will get married before I'm 30. It's probably my fault because, like I said, the wedding talk is driving me crazy, so I'm being extra stubborn and telling everyone I'm not getting married — EVER.

Obviously, no one believes me.

This is actually the second bouquet I've caught. The other was about five years ago at my cousin's wedding, when I literally took up a stance similar to boxing out for a rebound and elbowed my way to the bouquet.

I wanted that bouquet. But that was years ago. People change. I changed. No harm in that.

But this time, it's different. With the thought of marriage and weddings looming ahead of me, catching a bouquet is just too much. Not that I'm against getting married. I want it one day.

But not anytime soon. My boyfriend and I are having fun; everything is still new and we're learning about each other and trying to figure out if we've found the person we're supposed to be with for the rest of our lives.

And we don't need talk of marriage to screw that up.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.