Yesterday was my bridal shower, put on by Mom and Chloe, my sister and maid of honor, with help from my grandmothers and Aunt Susan. Each of them made one of my favorite desserts–including 76 miniature Funfetti cupcakes topped with chocolate icing by my sister. (It was a long Saturday.)
As Mom topped the tables with vases of peacock feathers and the purple and blue napkins were lined up, I realized that things were really moving. That this was really a day dedicated to my future with my husband. That people were coming to celebrate a bride. Me.
It was strange. I was nervous, scared of the attention, excited and ready to get eating those snacks (especially my mom's candied pecans, which I may or may not have had a handful of whenever I was standing). Mom and Chloe were the first to put their presents on the table, Chloe's wrapped in a dishtowel with two little scrubbers as bows. I need to remember that trick.
As family and friends started coming in, as the room started filling with noise and as the gift table filled up, I realized that I wasn't the only person that was excited. My close family members were excited to host the party–Mom and Chloe led games and corralled 6 children in an effort to get my gifts handed to me safely. My family was excited to see itself grow by one. My friends were excited to share in the happiness.
And I felt special. I felt, for the first time in the long ride to the wedding, like it was going exactly how I wanted: it was bringing people together, giving them a chance to be nothing but happy.
I'm fighting the urge to list all of my gifts here, because they meant so much to me. While I always appreciate a nice present, I was floored by how many of them where made just for me and my future family.
I had no idea what to expect from anyone, especially my sister. Mom had told me even she was surprised by Chloe's idea for a present. I nearly cried when I opened Mom and Chloe's presents.
I remember many evenings sitting in the TV room with my family with mom in the recliner, stitching away at flowered tablecloths. They're a traditional piece of our family decor, a piece that makes me sad I missed out on Hope Chests. Now, for my shower, Mom had stitched me a tablecloth of purple flowers with bright yellow centers. Then I opened Chloe's gift and found four matching napkins.
My eyes were swelling up, and then Chloe made me laugh. I'd been saying that I wanted to spend part of my shower money on a cross-stitch project to take with me to France. Chloe said it was hard for her not to warn me how tedious the projects can be. But she'd trudged through it, spending her evenings making my future dining room table look amazing.
Joe's mother and grandmother also contributed family tradition to our future nest. When they walked in with a huge plastic bin, I wasn't sure what would be inside. Towels? Linens? A giant, white nativity made by Joe's grandmother in a ceramics class? I never would have guessed.
One of the things I am looking forward to most for Joe and myself is our first Christmas in the states, going out and buying a nativity together. My family has always had several around the house. Chloe and I fight for the right to arrange them and re-arrange them throughout the season. Now with this family piece, I have a story to tell my children one day (as they ask to set it up and I kindly decline because I'm terrified of anything happening to them), one like the story my parents tell me of the nativity that sits closest to our tree, passed down to my dad from his parents.
We're really starting a family. It was hard last night to come home, review my gifts with my family and a few more miniature desserts, then pack them away for a year. Joe and I are anxious to get to France, but I'm getting just as anxious to feel a bit more permanent with him. I want to feel like I'm home, and so many people are making that possible for us. I want to feel like we're stowed away in our little apartment, living exactly where we're meant to be. It's making the idea of a French apartment with none of my things around me a bit harder to handle.
At least when we come home, it will be like a wedding shower all over again. We'll get to unpack, be surprised by the gifts we were blessed with, figure out just how we'd like to place them and then sit down with a good dessert and be thankful for them.
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