ShmoopTube

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Commitment and Confidence...a la Shmoop.

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Addison and Madison have been best friends ever since kindergarten. [Addison and Madison stood together in a playground]

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Well…except for those two years that they like to refer to as the “Dark Ages.”

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Now they’re in their twenties, and still just as close as they’ve ever been.

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Addison’s getting married, and she’s asked Madison to be her maid of honor. [Addison wearing an engagement ring]

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She’s also asked her to bake the cake, assemble the flower displays, put together the table

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centerpieces, arrange the musical compositions and otherwise arrange every single aspect

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of the ceremony and reception. [Addison and Madison sat on a sofa]

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Wow. What an honor. Thanks a lot, Addison. As privileged as Madison feels to have so

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much responsibility bestowed upon her, she’s…a tad overwhelmed. Understandably so. [Madison looks at her phone while driving]

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But… because she loves the stuffin’s out of her BFF,

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she’s promised to come through on all counts.

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Maybe a mistake. But…too late now. The wedding is just a month out, so…they’ve passed

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the point of no return. The more time Madison spends on the phone [Wedding date scribbled in a diary]

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with vendors, or brushing up on her baking skills, or trying to take a crash course on music theory…

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…the more stressed, and the more desperate, she becomes.

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Not to mention the fact that she’s got this maid of honor speech to write.

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She’s scared to death of talking in front of people…plus…if this thing isn’t perfect, [Madison giving a presentation and runs away]

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she’s going to be totally disappointed.

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Hm. Doesn’t sound at all like she’s setting herself up for failure.

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Right? Such reasonable expectations…

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Well, Madison has a tiny bit of a breakdown.

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Her friends try to console her and give her a pep talk, but… they can’t seem to do [Madisons friends giving her a pep talk]

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anything about that crazed look in her eye…

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At this point, she’s threatening to just give up completely,

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and hand the reins back to Addison. [Madison telling Addison that she quits and Addison brandishes a sword]

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Which…might very well issue in a brand new “Dark Age”…

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Finally though, Madison’s friend Mackenzie is able to break through.

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Rather than telling Madison all the generic stuff, like “Oh, it’ll all come together [Mackenzie talking to Madison on a sofa]

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in the end” or “Just do your best” or “No one will notice if it’s a total disaster”…

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…Mackenzie gets right to the heart of the matter.

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She reminds Madison that she was asked to bake this cake because… she bakes killer cakes.

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And she was put on flower displays and centerpieces because her eye for tasteful and beautiful

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decorations and innate crafting ability have been frequently lauded… [Madisons friend laud her crafting ability]

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and of course they’re going to look amazing.

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Even the stuff she was asked to do that are a bit out of her comfort zone…

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Addison only asked her to do those things because she knows

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what an uncompromising perfectionist Madison

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is…which is why she was able to place so much trust in her. [Madison trying to write a speech]

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As for the speech…Madison may have a touch of the “stage fright”…but everything

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she ever wrote was absolute poetry, and there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that there wouldn’t’

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be a dry eye in the house…er, banquet hall…when she was finished. It was all coming from the heart. [Friends crying at Madison's speech]

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Yeah, there was some degree of buttering her friend up in there…but it was all basically true.

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And with her confidence suddenly boosted incredibly, Madison resolved anew to honor her commitment [Madison reading a wedding cake baking book]

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to the best of her ability…which was at a pretty high level.

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Once she simply told herself she could do it, and do it all well, it’s amazing how

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much easier the tasks became. [Madison learning to play piano]

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With just a bit more self-assurance, Madison got all her baking and crafting and composing

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done under the wire, and in top form.

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And her speech? She killed it, of course. [Addison and her husband at the altar]

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She even had the ring bearer and flower girl asking for her autograph afterward.

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Nothing wrong with having a couple of wedding groupies… [Children asking Madison for her autograph]

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