Shower the people you love with love!


Words cannot describe how fortunate I feel to have spent practically 20 years of my life building amazing friendships with not one, not two, but five amazing women I met while in high school. We have grown up together and shared in each others' accomplishments as much as in each others' sorrows. Despite each of us taking very unique paths in our lives, we are all still very close to one another. We cherish the opportunity to gather, and the latest gathering that brought us all together was Lauren Cregor Devine's baby shower.

Lauren and Jeff are expecting their first child, a baby boy, in early June, and we are all so thrilled for both of them. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing the experience of pregnancy with Lauren, and all of our friends have enjoyed imparting our advice to Lauren, who is the last to join us in the wonderfully rewarding yet challenging world of motherhood.

The shower itself was a fun event. All of our mothers and some siblings were in attendance. My sister made yet another amazing cake, and we had fun watching all of the children run around together.












The unexpected highlight, however, ended up being a "formalized version" of all of the advice-giving that had been going on amongst our friends. Just as a bit of background, Lauren is an accomplished composer, singer, and songwriter (www.laurencregor.com), and in 2004 she released an album entitled No Time For Shy. One of the songs, "Walking Tall," has always reminded me of our group of friends, and Lauren confirmed that it was loosely inspired by a trip we all took to Florida (hence the reggae feel).



Angie made the absolutely crazy suggestion during our shower planning emails that we should re-write one of Lauren's songs...for at least a week no one responded. With good reason, of course. Though many of us dabbled in theater and choir in high school (with varying levels of dedication), most of us have moved on from that world. And furthermore, Lauren was always the one who carried us in high school anyway. The idea of re-writing and performing one of her songs in front of her seemed...well...intimidating, potentially humiliating, etc. But somehow we decided to move forward with the song mentioned above, and Angie re-wrote the lyrics brilliantly.

Long story short...Lauren loved Angie's lyrical interpretation and our musical rendition of her song. Though I have to admit it was still very awkward to sing this song for Lauren, of all people, the look in her eyes and her family's eyes as we made our way through the song was absolutely unforgettable. For anyone interested, the new lyrics are below. For the original song, visit laurencregor.com.  I'm sure some would like a video, which purportedly exists, but said owners of the video have sworn it would not go public. I think this is only appropriate as I'm pretty sure the pictures "sound better" than our rendition.




Back to the title of this blog, all I can say is that it was such a beautiful day of showering the people we love with love.

PS--here are the lyrics:


WALKIN TALL (MOMMA)

Once upon a time you woke up when you liked
Next you’ll take your cues from your it-ty bit-ty tyke
Building your nights around three hour feeding times  
Good sleep is a memory, memory, yeah

Pushing with your babe through never ending crowds
Put on your mommy face to keep their voices down
But there goes the daytime and there go long nights too
He’s gotta fall asleep real soon, asleep real soon, yeah.

You’re gonna let the world see you walkin tall, walkin tall with your baby
You’re gonna find a place in your heart where, where you, where you find peace
You’re gonna move your thoughts from the world you knew, the world you knew, to the world of three
And you’ll be a great momma

Latest consensus is that you’re the last preggo
God help you girl if you don’t get an epidural
It's worth all the pain when finally pushing out
The child that you’ve been carrying, carrying, yeah

Crazy how love never means the same thing twice
Crazier still seeing you and Jeff in your boy’s eyes
Ignore all the mirrors that make you want to cry
Your belly will be goin down, goin down down, down yeah ….

You’re gonna let the world see you walkin tall, walkin tall with your baby
You’re gonna find a place in your heart where, where you, where you find peace
You’re gonna  move your thoughts from the world you knew, the world you knew, to the world of three
And you’ll be a…

Oh someone’s tryin hard to make you give up all your grown up pleasures
You will feel your heart begin to slide in his direction

You may not dream of making organic cuisine
You simply want baby to eat something good and green
But as soon as you think you’re gonna pull your own hair out
He smiles and you are livin it, livin it… YEAH!

You’re gonna let the world see you walkin tall, walkin tall with your baby
You’re gonna find a place in your heart where you’re at peace
You’re gonna  move your thoughts from the world you knew, the world you knew, to the world of three
And you’ll be a…
And you’ll be a…. 
And you’ll be a great momma!!!!






 

Comments

Becky said…
That's so great, Marie, that you all get to celebrate those occasions together! You are looking beautiful, by the way! :)
March 29, 2011 at 9:27 AM
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