when it rains, it pours

fortunately, this is not a commentary on the weather here in chicago. in fact, today is a warm and somewhat-sunny day. rather, it very accurately describes the last few weekends of david’s and my life. you have read about the lovely shower hosted by my aunt, but two more have taken place since then. so far i’ve only given you a hint about one of them. shame on me.

last weekend, ten women from our church hosted a shower that, i have been told by many guests, was the best ever at our church. i can say that only because i had absolutely nothing to do with planning it! all i had to do was show up.

when i first arrived, i was greeted by david’s niece emily, who had a small box filled with popcorn and movie candies. ah, the theme: a movie theater. on the table at the entry were paper popcorn boxes filled with popcorn, and bowls of said candies for anyone who wanted to toss them in with their popcorn.

the “stage,” where david and i would sit as we opened gifts, had a director’s chair on either side of a table on which sat a popcorn container with flowers, a small bullhorn, a photo of us, and a bowl filled with junior mints, chocolate-covered raisins, and nonpareils—my three favorite movie candies—and behind the stage, a movie screen, complete with a filming marker.

my maid of honor and dear friend, laurie, asked everyone to please take a seat. her sister amy assisted her with a power point presentation, during which she asked everyone to turn off their cell phones and pagers, informed us that the concession stand would remain open throughout the show, and presented a new love story called, “when ann-marie met david . . . ” its stars? ann-marie and david. its producers? our parents. the list of guest stars was made up of the wedding party, and the featured guests, our nieces and nephews who will take part in the ceremony. so clever! laurie offered up a brief devotion and then asked a few women to come forward and present a skit.

skits at our church showers are always worth seeing. they are never thrown together at the last minute, but are written out thoughtfully and carefully, and always with a few lovingly crafted pokes at the honorees. in our case, our friends joey and lynn posed as reporters on oscar night, where they were awaiting the arrival of the stars of the new hit movie, “when ann-marie met david . . . ” it was really quite cute. the movie had a hot new song on the soundtrack that was up for an oscar, too. and who came to sing it for us but the original recording artists themselves! this group of musicians was comprised of most of my fellow altos from our church choir, who had taken on the name of “the curiously strong.” donning their choir stoles, they sang a lovely alto rendition of sonny & cher’s “i got you babe.” only, apropos to the occasion, it was titled “i got you dave.” we even got an autographed copy of the sheet music!

at the conclusion of the skit, we were invited to eat lunch: hot dogs, nachos, pop, tons of sweet treats, and (for the health-conscious) fruit and water. the centerpieces included different cameras and an old projector.

it was such a fun day. david and i were, again, overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and neighbors. on top of all of the gifts, the thoughtful notes, the performances, and all of the detail that went into the day, we were given the gift of not having to write thank-you notes for the gifts. those who were there wrote their names on a list, exempting us from writing them a note for their gift. therefore, i took an opportunity at the end of the party to thank everyone, during which i began to weep. it was truly that overwhelming.

and that wasn’t the end. this past sunday, laurie hosted yet another shower for me. it was called a “personal” shower, not because the gifts were items of a personal nature, but because the women there were some of my closest personal friends. it was a coffee- themed shower, and laurie went all out. i was given a sweet corsage that had a coffee scoop attached to it, but it was too heavy to pin to my dress, so i carried it around for a while. in true coffee-house fashion, a potpourri of mugs sat on the table, and whichever mug we took was ours to keep. we had our choice of coffee drinks, milk to make a latte, flavored syrups (hazelnut, yum!), ice for a chilled beverage, and scones, biscotti, brownies, and rice krispie treats, all home made. it was quite a spread!

the kindness and generosity of our friends and family are astounding. especially at this time when i feel as though everyone has done more than enough. but they just keep on giving. and not just gifts from our registry or gifts they know we’ll like, but gifts of their hearts. their support, their encouragement, their love. those are the gifts that give us strength and that affirm us in this decision we have made.

david wasn’t required to be at this shower, so he and his father took the time and moved some small pieces of furniture from my apartment over to david’s—also a tremendous gift.

there is one more shower to go, but we get a little break for now. that shindig will be during the work day in a couple of weeks, as it is being given by our departments, who are banding together. that should be interesting. truly.