I've never been the type of person to ask a lot for myself. I'm the oldest of three girls and I think as the oldest child, I grew accustomed to cutting corners and making little sacrifices for whats best for everyone as a whole. Don't get me wrong, I was NEVER unhappy or felt sad about it. I have no reason to complain about my childhood. I never lacked anything I really needed and my parents definitely went above and beyond their roles to make life easier for me.
As an adult, I still do these things. I convince myself I don't really need things that would be a luxury to have, and I even talk my husband out of some of the things he's gotten in mind to get for me. Telling him its unnecessary and the money could be better spent elsewhere. This can be a very good thing. I definitely have the ability to budget and save money like no one's business because of this trait.
Then there's Elle. My very best friend who knows me probably as well as my husband does and certainly better than I do. She and I struggled to get through the last couple of years in life with miscarriages, a deployment, a very sick baby, and eventually losing her son. Not to mention all of these things happening with the two of us being just far enough apart for it to be really annoying. Thank God for FaceTime.
Elle used to always tell me that when I did get pregnant and stay that way, that she would throw me a baby shower "worthy of Kate Middleton". I would chuckle and think "Man, if we could just get to that point..." I threw Elle a baby shower for her oldest child and she wanted to return the favor.
So obviously, we arrived at that point in my pregnancy. Which was amazing in and of itself. I knew she was planning a shower and we talked themes and such without really much committment about the real deal. We set a date that ended up not giving her much time to plan because of our busy fall schedules and the approaching holidays. She managed to pull together the most amazing shower in four weeks without telling me any details ahead of time. I knew the theme and that was about it. Surely she knew that I would bug her about details and then try to convince her that I didn't need everything she was planning and so she just kept me in complete darkness.
The day of the shower was simply perfect. No better way to describe it. It was beautiful. It was a children's book themed shower and I loved every bit of it. Sometimes its really nice to have someone acknowledge your rough patches and say "hey, you deserve something nice!" and just do it without asking your permission.
I honestly had a very difficult time not crying while opening gifts (which took a whopping 1.5 hrs). I just kept thinking how surreal it was that I was at this moment in my life, I was holding clothing my DAUGHTER would wear. It was hard to contain my emotions. I was just overwhelmingly happy and content. A feeling that I've been experiencing a LOT lately and I feel so blessed.
Elle, I can't thank you enough for your hard work and your amazing friendship. Next to my husband, you are probably the second best thing to have ever happened to me! I'm grateful for you every single day. I love you!
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