text: Today was the first day of the rest of my life, or so they say. I was supposed to be getting married in less than five hours. I was at the day spa when I get a phone call from a lawyer’s office. To say I was confused would be an understatement, I mean why would I be getting a call from a lawyer? My fiancé was the one that had to sign a prenup not me. “Hello?” “Hello, I am looking for Aundrea Gillespie.” “This is she.” “Miss Gillespie, my name is Frank Little. I need you to come to my office today.” “Wait, today? But I’m getting married in less than 4 hours now!” “I apologize Miss Gillespie, for the inconvenience but it is imperative that we speak today.” “Well then Mr. Little, you are going to have to come to me. I am not going to leave -,“ before I could say anything else, he cut me off. “Miss Gillespie, the terms of what I need to go over with you state that it must be done in the privacy of my office on May the 5 th at 3pm. Now I will send a car for you but I need you here in exactly twenty-five minutes.” Luckily the nail artist was just finishing with my nails, thank goodness I hadn’t gone to the massage therapist yet. I go up front, pay my bill and cancel the remaining appointments for the day. I then call my fiancé and tell him what’s going on and that I may be late to the church, but I would be there. Just as I disconnect the call, the car pulls up and the driver gets out. He’s sharply dressed, and handsome, but he wasn’t my fiancé. I had to keep my mind clear, and on the day ahead. The driver opens the back door for me, I step in, the door closes and as soon as the driver gets back in the car, we leave the day spa. As I watch the scenery fly by, my thoughts drift to the day ahead. What did this lawyer want? I can’t believe that whoever this guy is he’s taking time away from my wedding. I reached up with both hands to rub my temples, as a world-famous neurosurgeon, I had saved Presidents, CEO’s movie stars, you name it, I’ve operated on them. Because my job is very stressful, I had learned stress techniques that kept me cool and collected, and today was one of those days that I had to use them. The car stopped in front of a high-rise building; another well-dressed man was standing by the curb waiting. As the car pulled up beside this other man, my door opened, signaling that my departure from the car was now eminent. Taking a deep breath to gather my nerve, because I was ready to rip some ones head off, I step out of the car. My Giorgio Armani wide legged organza pants in a dark blue and a shimmer V-neck shirt in black, the bra I was wearing today was a black strapless lace that was seen clearly through the top I wore. I wore comfortable clothes today because I knew I would have to chance into my wedding dress designed especially for me by the best designer in the world. I was still wearing my Elisa necklace & earring set that my sister had given me, granted they weren’t as fancy as what I was used to wearing but they did have sentimental value. The man that was waiting at the curb, escorted me into the building. We step on the elevator; he presses the button for twelve. As the elevator jolts into motion, I’m once again thinking about the day ahead. I should be getting my hair done, the flowers should be arriving, the cake should be coming in an hour .... UGH! I need to be there not here! I needed to get into my gown, I needed to do so many things, just then the elevator stopped and the doors opened. The young man stepped out motioning me to follow, we walked down the hall a short distance and stopped in front of an office with gold lettering on the door indicating the arrival at the law offices of Marlyn and Marlyn Attorney’s at Law. One more deep breath sigh, I open the door and walk in. Even though I knew I was not dealing with one of the partners of the office, I couldn’t help but wonder why I was here. “Good morning Miss Gillespie,” a young blonde secretary said as I walked in the door. I smiled and nodded in her direction. “I will let Frank know you are here. Please take a seat and he will be with momentarily.” She continued. ‘More delays’ I though as I looked down at my Citizen Eco-Drive diamond studded watch. I now had 3 hours before I needed to be at the church. I was starting to freak out, you want to talk about “bridezillas” I was going to turn into one in no time flat if I wasn’t on my way to the church in 1⁄2 hour. “Miss Gillespie?” I looked up and there stood a rather distinguished gentleman, he looked to be in his mid-forties, early fifties. If I wasn’t already engaged, he is someone I would typically date, instead I ended up with a world-renowned heart surgeon. Two surgeons in the household could spell disaster, but I loved him more than anything else in the world. “Miss Gillespie?” he said again, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Yes, I’m sorry.” “Please, follow me.” We walk down a short hall, as we come up to a door that’s open, he stops and motions for me to go inside. I go inside and sit at one of the chairs in front of the well-used desk. He walks in behind me, shuts the door and walks around to sit at the desk. “Miss Gillespie, I want to thank you for taking time out of your busy day to come here today. I know that I didn’t give you much time or too much of a choice, but I do appreciate your cooperation in this matter. Now let’s get to the matter at hand, shall we?” He opened up a manila folder at that point, cleared his throat and started reading a will. As I’m listening to this will, I’m very confused, I have never heard of this person, yet they are supposedly an Aunt on my father’s side. She was someone dad never talked about, being an only child, I rarely heard any stories of the family. “To my Niece Aundrea, I am leaving my entire estate. The Mansion in up State New York, the beach house in the Cayman Islands, ten million dollars, and the brand-new Sportster Jaguar, and the Land Rover. However, in order to receive this inheritance, Aundrea must spend the next 3 months in the Doctors without borders program. She must also give up her designer wardrobe to the women’s shelter before leaving, and go to the local thrift store and purchase an entire wardrobe spending no more than $200, which includes buying new suitcases. You must look the part when you are in a third world county helping others. Use some of your own money and buy the shelter much needed supplies. If these conditions aren’t met, the entirety of my estate including all monies, vehicles and houses listed will be sold and proceeds will be given to the same shelter. Aundrea will have four months from the reading of this will to have all conditions met, if at that time all the fore mentioned conditions are met, Aundrea will, at that time be handed the keys to the mansion, the beach house, both vehicles and the key to the safe deposit box that holds the cash.” As the lawyer kept reading, I couldn’t believe my luck, ten million dollars, a mansion, a beach house, a brand-new Jag and a Land Rover. Getting rid of the clothes and buying things from the thrift store! I only bought designer clothes. I mean the outfit I had on I paid over $3,000 for, this this woman must be crazy. I had heard of Doctors Without Borders but never gave it much thought, I was far too busy here. I could do that after the honeymoon, and maybe I could talk him into coming with me. And then the other shoe drops. “All this must be done while she is single.” “Wait - WHAT?? I’m supposed to do this while I’m single? Not only am I not comfortable with shopping at thrift stores, now you’re telling me I can’t get married??? I am supposed to be getting married today!!” “Well, according to the terms of the will, the wedding will HAVE to be put on hold. You will meet Jeanette at downstairs, she will take you to your apartment, there you will gather your clothes, take them to the shelters of your choosing, and then she will go with you to do your shopping.” He pauses a moment, then pulls and pulls an envelope out of a desk drawer that was to his right. “Here is your plane ticket, the flight is for day after tomorrow. Inside that envelope you will also find all the information you need for Doctors Without Borders, the Visas you will need for the locations you will be going to. Now if I were you, I would get to the church and give the new to your guests and that fiancé of yours. Oh, one more thing Miss Gillespie,” He looked at her rather sternly, “your fiancé is NOT to go with you. Should he be found in any of the locations with you, you will forfeit everything. Understood?” I warily shook my head in understanding. Sighing, I picked up my Gucci purse, and headed out of the office. The terms of the will specified my clothing, it didn’t say anything about my shoes or accessories. Doctors without borders doesn’t care about what I’m wearing, but I’m not going to take any of my nice shoes to Ghana or any place like that. It would be best if I got some walking shoes. By the time I got down to the car, it was raining and not just from my eyes. I gave the driver instructions to take me back to the church, the wedding was supposed to start in an hour, most of the guests had already started showing up, one more sigh, I went to go find Damon my fiancé. He was in his dressing room talking to his groomsmen. Walking into the room, I looked directly at him, “Damon, can I talk to you for a minute please?” Damon looked at me with a worried expression on his face, then he asked “Aundrea, is something wrong?” “I really need to talk to you, alone please.” We walked out of the room together and walked into a room that wasn’t currently occupied. “I need to talk to you about something rather important.” “What’s going on Drea?” Drea was his nick name for me, I thought it was cute and never corrected him. We’ve known each other since middle school, we dated in high school and lost touch after we graduated. Then in med school we found each other again, and we’ve been together ever since. I took a deep breath, and began explaining everything to him. After I got done with the explanation, I told him that we needed to postpone the wedding for 3 months while I work with doctors without borders. I then told him that I needed to explain to the guests that there wasn’t going to be a wedding today and invite them back in three months. “What if I were to go with you? We could do this together” “NO!” “Well why not?” I had to tell him that if he came with me that I would forfeit everything, and that I planned to give most of the money to the homeless shelters here in New York. “Are you crazy?” He exclaimed “What on earth do you mean? That shelter is in desperate need of supplies. All the shelters are in need of help, and if I can help the with the money my Aunt left me than I will.” “Look Aundrea, I know you have a good heart, but this is going too far!” I looked at him with a confused look, he knew I gave to charities every year, so this was nothing new, the only thing new was the amount. “Damon, if you can’t accept this -“ I knew the next words were going way out of my comfort zone, because I had loved him since middle school. I didn’t know what my life was going to be like without him. But I couldn’t stand by and let him dictate how and who I donate my money to. “Then I think it’s time we go our separate ways.” I bowed my head as tears started to form in the corner of my eyes, yet again. “You can’t be serious?” “I am. Excuse me, but I have an announcement to make.” I turned and walked out of the room heading to the chapel so I could make the announcement about the disposition of the wedding. After the announcement, I told the guests that the food was available, since everything was already delivered, and for them to enjoy. I walked out of the church to find the car waiting for me, inside as promised was Jeanette. We went to my flat in uptown New York, pulled out every stitch of clothes I owned, placed them in bags and then went back down to the car. The bags were placed in the trunk of the car with the help of the driver and Tony my doorman. We then headed to Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, New York City Rescue and then to Covenant House. Those were the three that I had chosen for the women’s shelters that I would donate my clothes to. Next stop Housing Works Thrift Shop, I chose them based on their mission. I liked working with places that help people with health issues of any kind. I spent my $200 and actually got some decent clothes, even thought thrift shopping made my skin crawl it wasn’t that bad. We went to JCPenny next and got a suitcase set that we suitable for my trip. Since the Jewelry I had on, minus the engagement ring wasn’t that expensive I kept it on. My last stop was to my bank, I looked at the itinerary for the trip, pulled out some money and exchanged it for local currency, and placed the engagement ring in my safety deposit box. The next three months went by like a whirlwind, believe it or not I loved doing it. I went back home to receive my inheritance and as promised the three women’s shelters that I had chosen to receive a million dollars, I went back to the thrift shop and bought more clothes. Next, I went back to New York Presbyterian and resigned, I found that working with doctors without borders was far more exhilarating that being in the hospital. Next stop was my flat, it was time to pack the things I could take and then sell the items I can’t take with me. I placed my flat up for sale and the mansion, then I listed the beach house as a vacation rental. As for the vehicles I shipped the Land Rover to Syria, which is where I was working the most. The rains made the ground muddy making it difficult for people to get anywhere, so the Rover would help out a lot. It would take about a month for the vehicle to get there, which left time for me to visit the mansion and the Relator. I contacted a vacation rental company and got that all set up, the relator walked through the mansion with me and we started putting the furniture up for sale. By the time I had sold my flat, all the furniture in both places, it was time for me to leave for Syria. I called Damon to say goodbye, I told him that I was going back, that I sold everything I owned. I ended up leaving him a message as he wasn’t answering. ‘Damon, it’s Aundrea, listen I wanted to tell you that I am going back to Syria. I will be working with doctors without borders for as long as they need me. I’ve sold everything, the jag is yours. I left the key with Tony. Good luck to you and good-bye.” Once I boarded the plane, my old life was behind me, and the life I fell in love with was now in front of me. I smiled and looked forward to the future, for the first time in my life.