The Best %#^$& Baby Shower. Period.

I'm loath to confess this, but I truly dreaded it. Long ago I had even swore off attending baby showers; choosing instead to mail a gift card to Babies R Us and silently bow out, happy to remain in absentia. Something about the games, the labor and delivery chatter, the cutesy gifts, and the few but distinct gift grubbing mothers-to-be turned me off. Not to mention sitting in the middle of a circle while everyone intently watched me open gifts is a bit too much attention for me. I know, shhhhhhhhocker. So when my visiting teachers offered to throw me a shower, it was a classic Catch 22. If I dug in my heels and refused, they'd lose out on a service opportunity they so clearly wanted to provide. If I said yes, I'd have to endure the event and possibly be scarred forever. As Robert Lee Frost once put it:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a woods.

And I-- I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference.

I knew the question of what we wanted and/or needed would come up. I told my visiting teachers to encourage anyone crazy enough to attend this shindig just to bring their favorite children's book. If there were a game, to do the one where everyone has a paper clip and if someone says key words like "sweet", "cute" or "adorable" their paper clip was forfeit to the fastest person. That would at least cut out the cutesy talk I thought.

Shamefully, I have to admit they blew me away. No games. No sappy decorations. Just simple and classy, the way I like it. When it came time to open gifts everyone was chatting happily in their own corner and barely noticed me. Ahhhhh, it was wonderful. Almost everyone brought books and even those who didn't brought something handmade that had special significance to it. I got board books (the ones made on thick cardboard-like pages) and hard-back books. Books for babies and books for toddlers. Books about colors and ABC's. Animal books and fanciful books. Books old enough to practically be out of print and brand-new what's-hot-now books. I got books I'd never even heard of like The Dot and Goodnight Boston. The most amazing thing? With all of those women and all those books, not one book was duplicated! Everyone brought something different.

The best part was the explanations that followed. "This book is how Leslie learned her ABC's." "We had to buy this book 3 times because Kay loved it so much she wore them out." "This was such a great excuse to take my kids to the bookstore and THEY helped pick these out!" "My daughter literally has this book memorized." "That book is technically meant for a Grandpa to read to his grandchild but the first time I read it I found myself bawling and HAD to get it for you." "This is a great bed-time book, works every time." Each book was not just a gift but a story behind the story. The point of this shower wasn't for me to check things off my registry, it was a wonderful gathering of women and their recommendation on children's literature... everyone had something to say. I loved it.

I was blown away by every one's generosity and found the evening to be a much-needed foray into the world of estrogen. Don't get me wrong, I love Brent but women just NEED each other in a different way. When I eventually came home to Brent and he glanced through our newly acquired library he just kept nodding and smiling. Really, it was the shiz.

Whenever I tell anyone about my baby shower their eyes practically pop out of their head and they say something to the effect of, "That is SUCH a good idea!!!" Don't I know it :) However, I can't take credit for this one... that goes to my wonderfully insistent visiting teachers.