A friend and former coworker was thoughtful enough to invite me to her baby shower. My usual, default reaction is to say no to something out of my comfort zone. And my immediate, internal response to this was no. Why would I go to a baby shower? I don’t think I’ve ever been to one before. I wasn’t sure what to expect, what to bring, how to dress, etc. And honestly–dark secret–I don’t really like babies.
In addition, I was afraid about being the only guy invited. For encouragement, I was told that a few other males would be there. However, they were all relatives of the mother-to-be or the host. They weren’t invited so much as they were conscripted. Their presence was expected, to put it mildly.
I was afraid of looking and feeling totally out of place amongst a group of much younger women and mothers. I was afraid I would bring the vibe down. And I was afraid the shower was just going to be a group of women fawning and gushing over unwrapped baby clothes, ad nauseam.
It was going to be held at a neighbor’s house in Atherton–a very affluent town in the Bay Area, home to tech billionaires. That also made me a little uncomfortable and apprehensive. The one apparent draw to attending would be the opportunity to throw myself down the neighbor’s front steps, hurt my neck and back, settle with their insurance company, and then jump on the gravy train.
But I kept my initial response to myself and didn’t immediately RSVP.
Over a few weeks, I thought about it some more. I don’t currently have a ton of friends and my universe of friends isn’t rapidly expanding. And yet, here is a friend, who was considerate enough to invite me. I should feel fortunate to be invited.
In addition, I would much rather attend a baby shower than a funeral, which in the future, are going to become increasingly more common. And finally, why not? It beats the shit out of what else I was going to be doing at the time, which for the record, was nothing.
So I said yes to the baby shower; I’m going. My wife, also mildly taken aback, chuckled, “I can’t believe you’re going to a baby shower.”
Yeah, me neither. It’s against-type, but I’m going. Why not? I am absolutely going to have fewer opportunities to celebrate joyous events like graduations, marriages, and births. Life is short and getting increasingly shorter. I need to take advantage of things and enjoy experiences while I still can.
I did go and I had a good time. In retrospect, I’m glad I went. Everyone there was very nice and inclusive, which put me at ease. The hosts were very accommodating and offered guests mimosas upon arrival. Classy shit! There was a really good spread of food, I met new people, and had fun playing silly baby shower games. And of course, it was nice to connect with an old friend, especially as her calm, quiet, orderly life was about to suddenly evaporate.
For gifts, I followed protocol and bought gifts from the baby registry. But, for cheap laughs, keeping in-type here, I put them in a prank gift box. The mother-to-be was a good sport and laughed at the box once it was unwrapped.
What I didn’t expect was the reaction from the other guests. By all outward appearances and social cues, they seemed to be a mature and responsible lot. Which is to say, I doubt there were a lot of juvenile pranks in their everyday lives. So a prank box, which was definitely not on their radar, got really big laughs. Which was another bonus that I didn’t see coming. Oh man, baby showers are a hoot! When’s the next one?
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