Baby Showers, Blessing Brunches, and 5,000,000 Essays

As I sit here this morning, in my very clean house, I reflect upon the weekend ahead. Why am I up an hour earlier than my alarm? Oh, you know. You know how it is when you have so much scheduled for the day that you wake earlier than you need to, but your mind simply won't go back to sleep? Yeah, I knew you'd get it. This afternoon we're hosting Shulamith's baby shower, rescheduled from two months ago because of Swen's early arrival. Tomorrow morning is his blessing, followed by a brunch also here at our house. Would I normally schedule two huge events in the same weekend? No, I wouldn't. But in this case, we wanted to make it so Swen's grandma from Portland could be here for both events. She flew in yesterday afternoon and will be here until Sunday evening.

Her timing couldn't be better. Of course it's great that she can attend both the shower and the blessing, but my motives are far less gracious. I am so grateful she is here to cook. I love opening our home to friends. I love hosting parties and gatherings. I'm a socialite for sure. However, the thing about humans is that wherever they go, they always want to eat. Let's face it; food is central to all social events.This always makes me super nervous because as you know, food preparation is not my strongest area. To explain this more directly (because no creature on earth is as direct as an 11-year-old boy), let me relay a conversation I had with Seth about a year ago:

Me: Seth! Why won't you eat anything I cook?

Seth: Because you're a terrible cook.

Enough said.

My mother, on the other hand, is an excellent cook, and she loves doing it. Loves it. When I told her about the shower, she immediately began planning the menu. Within days, she sent me the shopping order, which Shulamith and I gladly filled yesterday before she arrived. She'll be serving cocktail meatballs, spicy chicken wings, layered bean dip, deviled eggs, and a cranberry pecan cheese ball with crackers. And I don't have to cook one single thing. Woo! Not that I could cook any of those things anyway because I couldn't. This very fortunate turn of events has virtually eliminated my stress. I'm able to sit here, relax, and blog. How lovely!

As for tomorrow's brunch, Matt's mom Dawn is bringing half the food for that. The other half I'm mostly buying from Costco: meat and cheese trays for sandwiches. My mom will make a potato salad, and Dawn is bringing a spinach/strawberry salad, chips, and fresh watermelon. Ice-cream sundaes for dessert. We're set. It will be a great day! Well, except for the 5,000,000 (give or take a million) essays that sit here in front of me on the floor. Even though I teach only very part time, it's the end of the semester, and that means final essays from every one of my students. I know. I know. I should have taught P.E. What was I thinking?

I'm trying not to be too overwhelmed because stress doesn't accomplish anything, and these essays need to be returned to students on Wednesday, the last day of the semester, regardless of how much I worry. Onward. After the blessing and brunch tomorrow, my mom will go to the airport around 5:00. Let the grading begin! I will have Sunday evening, Monday afternoon and evening, and all day Tuesday to grade. It's not beyond hope that I'll get done, right?

Baby showers, blessing brunches, and 5,000,000 essays! Wish me luck.