
Image from my iPhone
Would you go to a baby shower where you didn’t know the baby’s mom or dad? Would you purchase a gift and play the silly baby shower games like “Guess the mommy’s tummy size in toilet paper squares” for a woman you’d never met?
About three weeks ago, I received an Evite to a baby shower, but the name of the mom being showered was completely unfamiliar to me. Curious, I opened it – because it came from a friend – and read the following (I’ve paraphrased):
Hello – I know you’re wondering why you’re receiving this invitation. I have a friend who’s just moved here from another state. Her husband is in the military, and they have no family here, just a couple of friends. She is too advanced in her pregnancy to fly home so her family and friends can throw her a shower there, and it’s too far for her to drive. So I want to throw a shower for her, so she doesn’t have to miss out on this experience in her pregnancy. I’d like her to see that there is a network of women here that will show that they care for her, even though they don’t know her.
Today, I witnessed a group of about 25 women, most of whom didn’t know either the mom or the other guests, wholeheartedly participating in a shower for a stranger like it was for an old elementary school friend.
Every now and then, we get it right.
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