Wait, This Isn't the Shower for Bridget?

About ten years ago or so, my friend, Aleta, went to a party where a girl suddenly burst in, tripped, spilled all of the articles from her purse, collected her things and quickly left. This was actually a game. The party attendees were supposed to write down as many things they could remember about this mystery guest. For ten years she has told me about how she would love to do that and today, that dream has come true - only better.
   Aleta threw a baby shower today for a friend at church. I didn't know most of the people there (I knew 3), but I came as the mystery guest. I dressed up in a bold print dress and my vintage Audry Hepburn hat and showed up thirty minutes late to the shower. Guests were building scrapbook pages for the mom to be and I wandered around the room, waiting for an opportunity to get to know people.
   The night before, I was in a panic. I did not have a good back story to my character and I needed a reason to: a) be at a shower and not know anyone there b) have people frequently see the contents of my purse. Finally this morning at around 9, I had come up with a solution that seemed easy and probable. In my story, my mom was supposed to come to the shower and she suddenly got ill. She asked me to go in her place so I could bring a present and take pictures of what happened.
    Back at the shower I finally sat down to do my page for the scrapbook. I introduced myself to all sorts of people (including accidentally introducing myself to the mom-to-be who looked a little confused as to why a stranger was at her party). I got up the courage to talk to my first group.
  "Hi, do you mind if I take your picture? My mom was supposed to come and she got sick so she wanted me to take pictures so I could show her later." I then proceeded to pull out several items from my purse as I looked for my camera. Those items included several books, anti-bacterial gel, sunglasses, and I think even some chapstick. I finally pulled out my pink camera and snapped a shot. I repeated this 6 times throughout the party at each table. Some people saw me take out my stuff a couple times and I'm sure they wondered why I didn't just keep my camera out.
   We sat down for food and I felt like I was giving an unfair advantage to my table mates as I was talking longer with them, but they were just so entertaining and interesting that I was actually giving them true facts about myself that I didn't even intend to include: my city, my church city, my most recent vacations, my gluten intolerance, my penchant for French food, the fact that I speak a little German, and about my blogging. One girl at my table had never had a chocolate covered strawberry before. I took a picture of her second bite and she looked like she loved it. She even said she had to thank the mom-to-be for getting pregnant so that she could try chocolate covered strawberries. Such a fun group.
   Then Aleta stood up to start the games. She had told everyone there was to be a game of memory requiring you to be perceptive. She had a tray of baby items on display and started to cover them.
   "Oh, but first, I just want to welcome you all to Carrie's baby shower..."
   I covered my mouth with my hands and then said, "Wait, who? Carrie?"
   "Yes"
   "This isn't the shower for Bridget?"
   "No, it's for Carrie."
   I stood up and covered my mouth again, "I'm so embarrassed. I'm at the wrong shower, wait, not Bridget, right?"
   Aleta shook her head no.
   "I'm so embarrassed." I started to walk out from the front of the hall to the back end passing each table to get to the exit. "It was really nice meeting you all. I can't believe I did this!"
   Then as I was about to leave, a woman told me to wait and she took out her camera and took my picture. I stopped and said, "Oh, I better get the present."
   I walked back to the gift table and took my gift off of it and ran out the door hearing people laugh, as they were trying to be polite and hold it in.
   I got to my car, shut the door, and laughed heartily. I was on a high for hours. It was just like acting again only even better! The people at the shower then had to list as many facts they could remember about me. I wish I could have overheard their reactions when they found out the true story. After the game was over, Aleta texted me saying they wanted me to come back, now that they knew who I was. The woman sitting at the table with me won (unfair advantage since she was so nice to talk to), but a woman at the first table I took a picture of got second place with 13 facts correct. She was a pro since I probably spent only 1 minute total with them.
   That was so much fun! I can't believe it worked out so perfectly. What a fun thing to play such a great role in making a friend's ten-year long dream come true.