Baby Shower

2 years ago and a few weeks is how long it's been since the girls dream team was in one place. It was a few weeks before I gave birth to Charlotte and we all worked for the same company. The middle of 2008 when the recession was hitting everyone hard and our company had already taken it's lumps in furloughs but the worst came during my maternity leave. Our office mama bear was laid off and the remaining girls including myself took it badly. Over the next 9 months our company staff continued to reduce and 2 more girls left until we were down to 3.

Last night former office mama bear threw a baby shower and dinner party for me. I'm one of those people who hates it when a fuss is made about them. Throw me a party and I'm likely to get embarrassed and say "it's okay, you don't have to do that" but I realized something important - having a "reason" to have a party is only a small part of it. People came from as far as an hour away after work because they hadn't seen each other in over a year, much less as a group!

It should be noted that of the 6 women, each was born in a different country. We represent America in myself, Venezuelan born Chinese, Russian, Colombian, Mexican and Romania at one table. I would never have met this unique mix of women without our shared history and I marvel at the opportunity to spend an evening with such a diverse group of friends.