115/365

At some point during three of my four pregnancies, we moved. And by moved, I'm not talking "to a new house," or "down the street," or "across town." No, it was more the case of "from the Atlantic to the Pacific," or "halfway across the Pacific Ocean," or "from the Northeast to the Pacific Northwest." BIG moves, strange places, brand new community.

Yet, in Every Single Place, a community of women gathered with me to celebrate new life. I can barely find words to describe well how much that meant to me- the church ladies who barely knew me and mine, throwing a party for us. They gifted us with much needed supplies, but they also gifted me with friendship and practical help and the advice that a mom far from her own mom didn't have close at hand.

And so, I love a Baby Shower. We ladies, we need each other! (and sometimes, just maybe, we need cake...) We need the friendship of ladies who have walked farther down this road than we have. We need their stories and their "this is just a season" wisdom. We need our Running-The-Race-Together mom peers, who know the latest and greatest of babyhood paraphernalia, who know the right struggles of long days and short nights and chores which never ever seem complete. We need our single friends, who are aunts to our kids, who love generously, who scoop up our little ones and give us themselves. We need our littlest sisters, the girls who delight in new babies and tiny clothes and no one watching them at the food table. We need sitting together and laughing together and taking time to know each other and taking time just to be.

Oh, I know, I've met those who are in the "this isn't her first pregnancy- no need for another shower" crowd. But not me. Yes- celebrate the miracle of a first pregnancy and celebrate the wonder of the 10th- together. What better to celebrate than a new baby, and who better to celebrate with than the sisterhood of community?
(thanks for today, friends. I'm not the one being showered, but I was blessed nonetheless.)