Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Saturday was the baby shower for The Book Lover. It was held at the same quaint little farm house where we had the Lord of the Rings marathon a couple weeks ago. This time there wasn't any snow predicted, so I felt better about driving out there again.

The shower was supposed to start at 2, and I got there about 10 to 15 minutes late, but I wasn't the last to arrive. It's difficult to judge the time it takes to get there because of the unpredictability of traffic on 476 (The Blue Route). Saturday they were doing construction on a stretch of it and had closed one lane.

In the dining room, two tables were set up: one for presents and one for food. I put the fruit tray on the food table and, of course, the presents on the table for presents.

Soon enough, the rest of the guests arrived. In addition to the hostess, The Book Lover and myself, there was The Warrior Princess, The Genealogist, and my College Roommate, as well as the hostess' two small children. The hostess' husband stayed in another room after picking up the cake. The Paper, who had promised a chocolate orbit cake, had called to say that she was ill and couldn't make it. Fortunately, I was told it was nothing serious.

Although The Cousin couldn't make it, she had sent presents up, a lot of individually wrapped gifts in a child-sized plastic laundry basket.

We started filling up plates with food. In addition to the fruit tray, there was a very nice salad with mandarin oranges, nuts and blue cheese, some bruschetta, cheese and crackers, as well as two types of soup: a lentil soup provided by The Warrior Princess and a cheese soup provided by the hostess.

We chatted on dining room chairs that the hostess pulled out for us, eating the delicious and nutritious food.

When we'd finished our plates, The Genealogist suggested we move to the living room where there was more comfortable furniture, but The Book Lover said that couches aren't any more comfortable for her right now than dining room chairs. So we stayed in the dining room.

The Genealogist started handing her gifts, while my College Roommate took notes of what she'd received. I noticed an interesting phenomenon: those women who were actually mother provided very practical gifts the rest of us probably wouldn't consider. Both The Hostess and my College Roommate gave her many small items that are helpful to have on hand, like antibiotic cream, Q-Tips, and a manicure set for babies.

The Warrior Princess gave her a beautiful blanket that she'd knitted, although she felt obligated to point out a small flaw none of the rest of us could spot, including The Book Lover, who is a lace maker and therefore has an eye for detail.

The Cousin, who is a librarian, had sent up a number of her favorite children's books, some of which are for small children and some of which are meant for slightly older children. The Book Lover, of course, was very happy to receive these.

I guess my gift was a little boring in that The Gryphon and I went in together and got a few items from her registry on Target.com. We got two sets of baby sleepers and a packet of burp cloths.

Later, I believe it was The Genealogist who gave her a little hat that matches one of the sleepers. The Book Lover jokingly tried to put it on, but it was clearly baby sized.

Among other gifts she received were a small blue baby blanket and more baby sleepers and cloths.

I could tell from her smile that the baby shower was a success. Certainly, it was a boost as far as what she'll need for the new baby.

After the gift opening, we sat around and, in a tradition I'm fast discovering is common at baby showers, those in the room who were mothers talked about what she could expect from childbirth and from baby's first months on earth. It was eye opening, to be sure. It's probably good that the hostess' husband was in another room, out of earshot.

Meanwhile, the hostess' daughter was socializing with people in the room. She loves to have her picture taken.

When I showed her the pictures on my digital camera, she liked the one best where she had a big, silly grin.

In this respect, I think she's taking after her dad, who nearly always wears a sunny smile. She looks so much like her mother, though, that you'd think she was a clone. By my reckoning, this is her third baby shower already in her short life. She was inside her mother for her first, and she attended a shower for my College Roommate before this third shower on Saturday.

Eventually, The Book Lover and The Warrior Princess drifted into the living room with the hostess and her family, while The Genealogist, my College Roommate and I kibitzed in the living room. We discussed everything from our health histories to stories from family history, such as something that happened to The Genealogist's great grandfather, I believe, who was wrongly accused of murder and did jailtime before being cleared. Come to think of it, she told that story earlier, while we were all eating.

All in all, it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. When I saw that the time was creeping away, I said my good-byes and got on the road. I'd promised The Gryphon that we would have a quiet dinner at home, and we still had to go grocery shopping.

I got back, and we ran to the grocery store, as well as K-Mart for a couple different things and the video store to rent two DVDs. We returned home, and while I went through Wild Violet submissions, The Gryphon cooked us a delicious meal of tilapia seasoned with garam masala, some polenta, asparagus spears and zucchini with a little bit of parmesan cheese. Delicious.

For dessert, he soaked some strawberries in diet ginger ale. They were really tasty. Apparently, that's the nonalcoholic version of soaking them in champagne.

It had been a long day, and by the time we sat down to watch Kung Fu Hustle, the first of the DVDs we'd rented, I could barely keep my eyes open. The Gryphon tucked me into bed, and we watched the rest of it the next afternoon, when I was awake. Fun movie. It's a live action kung fu movie with computerized cartoon visual effects, but while it's very absurd and funny, it still manages to tap into some real human emotion.

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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