Originally entitled All Things Grow with Love.
This weekend, we packed up the car with gifts and outfits and headed north to Connecticut for the baby shower of my dearest friend, and now sister-in-law. As college besties, our daily life was all about fashion (Ugg boots, Abercrombie denim miniskirts, lots of ribbons in the hair at all time), wine (she was the one who taught me not to put red in the fridge), and cheerleading. Of course, boys were a topic, too. Life was busy and sweet. We feared the real world as much as we longed for it. And we talked of babies. Always knew that we both wanted to be mothers “one day.” I can’t believe that day is upon us.
With my six-month-old in tow, I arrived at the shower full of love and tears. It took a couple hours before I actually shed any, but as Allie opened blankets and clothes and I pictured a tiny person going inside of them, my heart was bursting with pride, anticipation, and joy. It’s about her, it’s about the baby, also about my brother becoming a dad. And of course the tears were a little about me, because how can we experience life without understanding the connection that the events have to us?
I can’t believe I’m a mommy, and now my sweet friend will be, too. We used to dream of these days, even as we enjoyed the comings and goings of trends and guys, donning Middlebury hoodies and huddling on Pottery Barn-style rugs that we nabbed at Home Goods. Sharing the last Diet Coke back and forth in a symphony of sip-for-sip.
So, there were tears this Saturday but also a lot of laughs. Many of those came from my own adorable daughter, whose cousin will be born quite near exactly nine months after she was.
I am grateful every day for this beautiful life and the people in it. I can’t wait until Allie’s baby arrives and I can see her in action. I may have gotten a slight head-start, but I know I have plenty to learn from this beautiful mother-to-be. And her little seed.
