no good deed, indeed

"We" hosted a lovely, yet full to the brim, shower for a dear friend on Sunday. She and her hub adopted a little boy and since she'd sat through years of showers for relatives of all stripes, it was her time. Thankfully, I was not on the food committee. I was in charge of the clean house and toilet committee. Hubby pitched in then ran away to the pub when the estrogen levels got too high.

Another committee I was not in charge of: the games committee. The food committee and the clean house committee teamed up to lobby against any games. But the games committee comprised of the grandmothers and no matter what we could do, no one was going to tell the grandmothers what to do. So my house became a vessel for enormous amounts of cake, crab dip and silly shower games. Two shower games. In a thinly veiled attempt to get out of said games, I promptly forfeited my spot in both, thus eliminating me from competition.

With the games committee, the food committee and the clean house committee came the wacko family committee and the breach of etiquette committee. Every event must have at least one. Doesn't yours? To be fair the BOE committee promptly backed down when asked, yet the wacko committee put up a fight. This caused a considerable amount of squawking, as any event involving women must include. It's in the bylaws or something. Look it up.

Twenty+ women crammed themselves into my little kitchen, then shuffled simultaneously into the living room to watch the gifts being opened. And opened. And opened. And opened. Men don't understand the ritual of the Shower. Women seem to get it. Food? Check. Silly Games? Check. Wine? Oh, check, check! Presents? Check. Opening them in front of your guests is a distinctly 9-year-old thing to do. It harkens back to a time of Pretty Princess-shaped cakes, silly paper hats, pinatas and wearing your fancy dress, the one you've been saving for just this party. All that was missing was the homemade goody bags to take home to show your brothers what they missed.

My dear friend walked away with the goodie bags, dozens of them. It's amazing to watch a person you so love and respect be honored by others who feel the same way. I bought her a tiara to wear during the party, which she almost left behind. What kind of Pretty Princess leaves her tiara behind? She must be out of practice.