Snow showers/baby showers

I woke up this morning to snow…it was beautifully coming down, covering everything with a clean coat of white. I would have been so thrilled and it would have put me in such a good mood…usually. However, this morning I had to go to a baby shower. This is the baby shower I was supposed to get a gift for yesterday. I went rushing after school to the next town over, 30 miles away, specifically to buy a gift for the new mom, then came home 3 hours later with groceries, produce, Walmart bags, a new Gameboy game for my daughter Emma, who was spending birthday money, but no baby gift. I realized this when I was almost home, but was already running late for a Valentine’s banquet that night, so there was no going back. The snow was coming down pretty hard by time I had to leave for the shower, so I put on boots. (this turned out to be a good move) Meanwhile I was racking my brain to remember WHO I had told I would give a ride to. I called several friends…no, they didn’t need a ride…but I knew someone had asked me. Hmmmm Thankfully, our grocery store has begun carrying gift cards for various stores and restaurants in a nearby big town, so my daughter Bethany and I stopped by and got a gift card for dinner out on the town for the baby’s mom and husband…and I was even running on time. Cool. Now for the reason I dreaded this shower in the snow…..the hostess lives up on a big hill. I’m talking major incline, scary hill. I got halfway up the street that leads to this hill and began sliding backwards…….waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, Rickyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!! *that would be my Lucy imitation* When I came to a stop I realized my friend Elaine was sitting in her car right beside where I had stopped…ha…so we parked and walked up to the house together. My daughter was not as prepared as I was in my boots however, and had to walk in snow in 3 inch platform flip flops! No sooner did we start to walk though and one of the husband’s stopped and we piled in for a ride up to the house.

The shower was fun, the brunch was yummy, the baby was a peanut and cute…all was well. We only had one activity at the shower…..I dread ‘activities’ at showers…they usually involve at least slight humiliation and/or work for the attendees or the showeree (who wants to work at a party? Can’t we just sit here visiting and munching?)…but it was a good activity. We wrote on cards any advice we had for a mom of a new baby boy. (She has 2 little girls) As we were there and I was observing her with her 3 little children, all 2 and under, I remembered how hard it was as a young mother with 3 children, all little and dependent on you and keeping you busier than you’d ever been in your life just to meet their basic needs for one day! And mine were all 2 years apart, so I was really sympathizing with her, hers being only 1 year apart…they are really all still babies. I remember not getting a shower because they wouldn’t take a nap, having to pack to the hilt to go anywhere, the frustration of feeling trapped at home instead of being free to go and do. But looking back, it all went so quickly….my little ones I had so close together are all teens. Now I’m the one who needs naps and I beg to get to stay home and NOT have to ‘go and do’. I still can’t get a shower some days though, as there’s a struggle for the hot water while it lasts these days.

Oh, I don’t want to go back to those days…I really enjoy my kids’ independence and love that they are turning into real friends for me and for each other now. **usually** But it reminded me that some of the times in life are hard to get through. It comes in waves or seasons, but it always is changing ….the wave breaks and dissipates or the season changes as we reach another stage of life. Each stage or event has it’s struggles and triumphs. But we make it through…either bitter or better we make it through. And ,that is a relief while you’re going through it….it gives you hope to know that others go before you and they all seem to make it. I like to set my eyes on the ones who have made it gracefully and try to figure out how they did it. And although I can’t say all my transitions or seasons have been so graceful, I can say it’s all been good…even the hard times….it all makes you grow, learn to trust, and gain faith and hope.

We were almost the last to leave and as I stepped out onto the front porch, I realized the snow had stopped and the slippery slush had melted into innocent little streams of water, rushing here and there. We hiked back down to the car and I realized it had been worth it to venture out on this snowy, messy morning ….what had seemed such a hard task had melted away with the slush and become a fine day. I had been tempted to turn back, to give up and go home when I began sliding on the hill trying to reach our destination. It would have been the easy thing to do (and I do like easy)….but now that I’m through it, I realize it wasn’t as hard as it had first seemed and it was worth all the effort…and not just for me…it was worth it to be there for this new mom who needed to see we all make it, we just have to hang in there, ride those waves and enjoy the beauty of each season!