Grandma Shower

I became friends with a nice bunch of elementary school moms back in 1983 when my oldest son began kindergarten and I volunteered to run the Santa Workshop. I heard snickers behind me at that PTA meeting. Some of the women were relieved that there was new blood. Others simply couldn't believe a newbie would take on something like that (ignorance IS bliss!) and a handful became faithful elves who gave a morning or two each week to work on projects that were sold in December.

A year or two later, one mom discovered she was going to be a grandmother. Her high school aged daughter was pregnant. She and her husband struggled with this. They were shocked. They were worried about their daughter. They hoped she wasn't derailing her education. Our friend was worried about how others would react to her daughter once the pregnancy was obvious, and if some would think she failed to raise her daughter "properly". One of the women in our group decided to have a surprise grandma-to-be shower for her. She wanted our friend to know we supported her without judgments. The party was a success. The grandma-to-be relaxed. The party was good for all of us. 

A few years passed and another woman was about to become a grandma. The first party had been so much fun, the host decided to do this again, but this time it wasn't a surprise. Since then, one by one, there have been many grandma showers. They've been loud on laughter and long on friendship.

A few evenings ago, it was my turn to be the guest of honor, and believe me, I am honored to have these women in my life. Here are pictures from that night, but first a few explanations. After a wonderful dinner, we played our first game. We were each given a baby who was upside down in a plastic cup with their head frozen into the cup by an inch of water. Our challenge was to "break our water" without cracking the glass, hurting the baby and using no hot water, microwaves, or such.

Our next game wasn't caught on camera because we were working too diligently. We had teams of three working to assemble a 63 piece child's jigsaw puzzle. The age was 5 and up, but I don't think they planned on multiples of 50-ish women working them!

The next game was again played by teams. We had to transfer a pacifier among team members using a straw but no hands. Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold a straw in your mouth when you are laughing?

Each gift is so very special to me....from the laptop so that my grandson will be able to blog just like grammy, to the shirt that announces my new status to the world,  from the 'emergency stash' of wine to that beautiful quilt and all the gifts in between...I am so very lucky and feel so loved that I am choked up while typing this.

If you've never heard of this type of party, please consider throwing one for a friend or relative who is going to become a grandma. It isn't about the gifts, no matter how wonderful they are...it is all about the love.