Floored

I am hoping that what I was not able to express with my face and mouth today will come through with my fingers.

There is a group of women who are my friends. From California to Colorado to Chicago. From Texas to South Carolina to West Virginia to D.C and more. We share a common ground. We share support, stories, and pictures. Who am I kidding? We share just about everything.

I spend a little time with them almost everyday. The days I don't get to check in on them, I find that I think about them and wonder how they are. What their little ones are doing. How their house or job hunting is going. If that cold has moved on. If that baby has come yet.

There is a certain part of a friendship that you miss out on when you are long distance. I don't think though, that it means it is any less of a friendship. I don't usually distinguish in conversation between my "in real life" friends and my "long distance" friends anymore. Friendship is based in communication, and that is what this group of women does. We communicate.

Today, two of these friends were in my neck of the woods. LA had a birthday this week and was coming to celebrate with her brother who lives just a few miles from me. Jenn was just passing through and made it work so that we could all have lunch and celebrate LA's birthday together.

So I thought.

After a yummy lunch at a local pharmacy with a cute cafe attached to it, we went back to LA's brother's home for some cake. Cake for a birthday is perfectly logical. Behind me, Jenn is bringing out gift bags. Obviously, our friends had gotten together to give LA some birthday partying even across the miles.

So I thought.

Some times, I'm slow.

They were baby gift bags. And they were for Bird. And me. And Guy.

And this was a shower. A baby shower that my friends put together across the entire country and attended by two of the closest ones. I couldn't speak. Well, beyond asking for a tissue, I couldn't speak.

The gifts were amazing. There were things from our registry, things that they had picked out just for Bird, and things that they had made.

There were three group projects. A bag full of onesies that each of them had decorated with either bird themes or music themes. A quilt with squares from each of the seamstresses, and quilted out in California before making its way back here. And a scrapbook that only requires I add photos. They know me well, and know of my complete lack of scrapbooking skills (by the way, Kimmie, Lovely totally designed your page for Bubbles).

And even though it was only the three of us there "in real life," I haven't felt so surrounded by love and support in a very long time. Maybe ever.

That they would go to such lengths to help me celebrate this new little life?

I can only say that I am completely floored.

Humbled.

And more grateful than I can find the words to say.