Some compassion for Jennifer Wilbanks

Originally, this post was to be a tongue clicker at Jennifer Wilbanks, the missing Georgia bride who reappeared on Friday. However, as I really thought about it my heart went out to her. Now don’t get me wrong, I feel that her actions were incredibly heartless and self-centered, but in some small way I can empathize.

It sounds like Jennifer was planning quite an elaborate affair. With 600 guests and 28 attendants, she had more attendants then I had people at my small wedding. The sheer number of people involved is enough to send even a seasoned host into fits. As marathoner, who are more often introverts, chance are she was not a seasoned host.

Add to that she is 32 years old, so in addition to all the usual questions, I’m sure she had the tick tock of her biological clock going off in the background. However, there’s a reason why they have a name for pre-wedding gitters. The people who don’t get them are rare. However, judging by the number of people that are married in the world, most of us do get through them.

It also seems that she comes from a tight-knit community. They were incredibly involved in the search for her and I have no doubt that they were extremely involved in her wedding and in her life. We all know that the flip side of social support is social pressure, duty and expectations that go with it.

However, she obviously didn’t feel there were people she could confide in. She said that she “needed some time alone” and with a wedding to orchestrate it didn’t seem that she was going to get that.

It takes a huge amount of confidence to postpone a wedding for 600 people, and, as MSNBC reported her Uncle saying, “Jennifer had some issues the family was not aware of.” I’d say that the understatement of the year.