We went to a baby shower today. This future human will be only the second installment in the next generation of my kids' Smith cousins. We do not yet know who he or she (or they--we are learning to expand our pronouns) will be yet. It's all going to be a big surprise for all of us, future mommy and daddy included. This afternoon we learned the potential masculine name set, but I never heard the more feminine version. I adored what I heard, and squealed like a tween girl when I heard it. I might have even hugged myself and swayed a little while I giggled, it was so perfect. I want desperately to tell you, but I think that's giving away too much of a secret that isn't mine to share. Let me just say that the concept of "star stuff" figures in heavily. The entire shower today was star-themed. (Although I can't say that "meteor showers" figured into the puns for the day, now that I think back. Might have been a missed opportunity, but she did quite enough to establish a theme and variations.) One of the future grandmothers (or maybe it was an honorary auntie) started referring to our family-member-to-be as "Star Baby," and it stuck. So we ate star shaped cookies (GF), watermelon, and pineapple, and there was even a star cut out of the rind on the brie on the cheese platter. There were star decorations hanging from the ceiling. But our host, the other grandmother-to-be, managed not to overdo the theme. It was just the right tone.
The games were harder than the typical baby shower games. No "guess the candy bar melted in the diaper" or "cut this ribbon to the length you imagine matches the pregnant belly circumference." This was "here are baby pictures for some of the people present, and all of the names of attendees are listed, so you can't use process of elimination, guess who is who" and a sort of Dating Game like quiz where the pregnant couple answered questions separately, and we had to guess how each of them answered (not what the "right" answers were). I came in squarely in the middle of the pack on both games. Not horrible losses, but nowhere near the winners. I couldn't even pick out the photo out of the siblings that was my own husband's baby picture. (He got mine right, but I wasn't surrounded by four other people who looked like me as a baby.)
I had several moments remembering all of my neices and nephews as babies, contemporaries of my own kids, and wondering how the last 20-30 years went by so quickly. I'm happy and impressed at how well these kids grew up, into caring and confident and truly good adults. All of them are wonderful, in my expert opinion. The next generation will benefit from having parents like this. Mazel tov, to the first nephew I met, and his lovely wife!
(ed. note: I was too busy losing at games and stuffing my face from the incredible cheese tray to take any pictures. The only one I have is the one I submitted of myself for the game. I have seen a different one of me from this sitting, but never before this one. It made me realize just how closely I'm related to my cousin who I hung out with most in my teen years.)
,
No comments:
Post a Comment