A baby Shower

It is fascinating how life unfolds and you find out what you love and what you are made to do. Growing up, I remember learning that doctors and lawyers made a lot of money and well-meaning people would tell me that you can be whatever you want when you grow up. So it would make sense that all of us should try and go after those professions that would earn us financial stability. But when you are older, you look back and you realize the things or careers that were never meant to be yours and they are just as telling as the ones that are.

In college, I had an eye-opening conversation with a friend. I told him that while we were chatting away, I was mentally rearranging the furniture in the coffee house and he confided that when he is bored and his mind wanders he dissects the room into measurements and then puts it back together. If you are thinking that I didn’t explain that very well you would be right- to this day, I don’t even know what he meant, only that my brain and his ran on different fuel. It was at that point I realized that maybe we can be whatever we want but perhaps we should not. I want an engineer that daydreams about making bridges to build that bridge and a surgeon that can’t resist troubleshooting how to heal the human body-working on me if ever I should require his services.

I wanted to go to art school and when the Lord closed that door, I ended up with a bachelor’s in Social Work that I used to put my husband through seminary. I wasn’t a very good social worker. My favorite 3 days out of the three years working as social worker were making up food gift baskets to take to clients at Christmas, helping a client buy furnishings when she moved into a new senior housing apartment, and hands down the best day was when I made snowflakes and hung them all around our cubicles. Older me laughs- of course those we the best days-it makes so much sense.

When I was 13, my dad asked for help to throw my mom a surprise 50th birthday. I was besotted with the idea. There was no budget given, just hamburger meat that we would be forming into patties at the neighbor’s house for the backyard cookout he had planned. I remember thinking about how to make things special and in my mind, the party was so grand. I didn’t know the words pipe and drape yet and my no-budget skeleton crew of workers(aka my siblings) were not bringing the vibe I was looking for. I dreamed of a large banner hung between two pine trees that said happy birthday in script fit for a queen. This was the age of print shop and computer paper that you had to tear the edges off of- we didn’t even have a computer, but I knew someone who did. I outsourced the banner job to a kid younger than me and couldn’t wait for him to bring it over. I asked him to make it double wide and instead, I was handed, at the start of the event, a paper banner with the edges still on that had the words happy birthday printed twice. It couldn’t even reach halfway between the trees. I was crestfallen. This would not be the first time my expectations did not meet reality! The party was joyous and I think my mom felt celebrated, but I knew that this fair lady deserved so much more….

This baby shower met my 13 year old and 45 year old expectations! I handled the flowers and the outdoor decor, while the party crew inflated balloons and gussied up the mantle. It was catered, there was a bartender, and even a juggler. Baby chocolate mousse and cakes from Shindigz. Here’s to you Mom and the birthday party I really wanted to throw you! I hope you enjoy the photos! SM