It's not often that I am left speechless. It happened to me two nights ago, so much so that I wasn't even ready to write about it yesterday. I just walked by my kitchen table and was reminded the Bethel Valley Girls have a knack for knocking the wind out of me, and I mean that in the best of ways. A few weeks ago j said, "We need to have a planning meeting," and I agreed because summer is upon us and we haven't come up with a way to top Spa Day or Pink Day. Elletu texted me later and told me the day we would be meeting at a restaurant for a 5:15 dinner. I told them all, "I'll get there early and get us a good table," so I was surprised to see their cars in the parking lot when I arrived ahead of the appointed time. I came bearing gifts to celebrate our 31st anniversary of friendship, including earrings Elletu and I had made out of wine bottle corks. As I breezed in to give them all a bad time for beating me there, it took a few moments for it all to sink in. They already had a table for the four of us, and next to it was another table packed with "It's a Boy!" bags, stuffed animals and balloons. What was this? And wait a minute, those aren't actual balloons, those are blown up...oh my! Surprise! They were throwing me a surprise 'Grandma Shower'! With my first two grandchildren just months away from being born, these dear friends were welcoming me to the world of grandmotherhood in true BVG fashion. I was blown away, never saw that coming in a million years, and even now I wonder, "How did these wonderful friends of mine surprise me like this?" But it was not the first time they caught me off guard. It was 29 years ago this summer--maybe even this month--that Elletu invited me over to her duplex on Bethel Valley Lane. I was pregnant with my third child, and I was so sick it was pitiful. It was during this unplanned pregnancy that I developed asthma, and my medicine made me vomit six times a day and I still couldn't breathe. My husband was away on travel 12 weeks of that pregnancy, my mom had just died, and I didn't have any family around to help me. I suspect I was less than thrilled to be pregnant and must have expressed that a time or two. When I arrived with my five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son in tow, there was j with her two daughters and Cool with her two sons. These three friends of Bethel Valley Lane (and Bethel Valley fame) had plannd what they called an 'Attitude Adjustment Shower' for me, and the laughter first began when I saw the centerpiece on the table. A stuffed rabbit was upside down, with a few daffodils between its paws. 'The rabbit died' is an expression from our mothers' generation, and it was actually a 'medical term' meaning "You're pregnant." Any reader of this blog knows what I mean. Anyway, above the dead stuffed rabbit, hanging from Elletu's dining room chandelier, were a few balloon look-alikes. I'll be honest, they were condoms. That's right, condoms. Tucked inside were pamphlets explaining different forms of birth control, the message being obvious. ("Condoms can break, okay?") So fast-forward to June 6, 2012, and picture the BVG's trying hard to blow up condoms to join another real balloon to form a ballon/condom bouquet. It wasn't easy, but Elletu apparently has experience with this? That balloon/condom bouquet is still together on my kitchen table. I'm going to take pictures of the presents in front of the balloon/condom bouqut to send to my pregnant daughter and pregnant daughter-in-law, since the gifts go to their babies. I just hope I don't make them blush! Well, the BVG's made me speechless, and I might have blushed too. I'm overwhelmed. They helped me ease in to the life of a mother of three, and now they're helping me ease in to the life of being Grandma. I can only hope and pray my pregnant daughter and pregnant daughter-in-law will have a group of friends like the BVG's with whom to share the wonderful world of motherhood. And if they're exceptionally fortunate, as I am, they'll have that same group of friends with which to share the wonderful world of grandmotherhood. I'm almost there. Thank you, BVG's.......I love us!