Bethanyology

Last night I carpooled to a friend’s baby shower with Jane and Natalie and we had a great adventure getting there.  At first we got a little lost on the route to the hostess’ house (the directions from one of the other guests included taking a roud “through the swamp-looking area”), and then we drove over something and it sounded like a tire blew!  We all got out of the car to examine the tires and didn’t find anything wrong, so we drove on and to our great relief had no further problems.  We arrived at the shower just a little bit late, but safe and sound and in time to eat and long before games or present opening began. 

The hostess’ home was beautiful, warm, and welcoming, and I knew most of the people there from church so it was all really comfortable.  The shower was held for one of our Primary teachers who’d just recently had a baby, and it was great to see her and congratulate her for the first time since she’d been off on “maternity leave.”  We didn’t get to see the baby, for obvious reasons, but I’m excited to see him when they come back to church for the first time in a couple of weeks. 

We played two “games” while we ate and chatted away.  I put the word “games” in quotation marks because they weren’t actually games, but they were entertaining, organized interactions.  The first was something that I’ve never experienced before, and I’m guessing I may never experience again.  The hostess asked us each to enter a small bathroom off the entry of the home, close the door, stay inside for a minute, and then come out and not say anything to anyone else until we’d all done it.  Each person came out with a curious look on their face, and when it came to my turn I was very interested in what lay ahead.  I went over a few scenarios in my head–would there be a joke behind the door?  would the lights automatically turn off?  I simply couldn’t think of anything feasible.  Anyway, as I went inside I noticed that all the walls were mirrored, then I closed the door and realized that the entire room (except for the ceiling) was covered in mirrors.  My first reaction was “wow, so this is what people feel like on that TV show What Not to Wear when they go inside the 360 degree mirror.”  My second reaction was of incredible peace.  There was a candle burning (it’s a good thing I didn’t have to stay there long or my allergies may have kicked in), and everything that wasn’t mirrored was some version of cream or white.  I sat down and considered myself in the mirrors and watched myself repeating again and again in the mirrors facing each other and was surprised to feel happy and loved instead of self-conscious.  It was a really cool experience.  I left the room and silently returned to my seat.

The last person in was allowed to react audibly, and she wasn’t necessarily excited about the room.  Several of the other ladies joked and commented about how horrifying it was to go in there.  Someone mentioned that it would be a great place to meditate.  The hostess explained that her husband had loved the all-white and heavily mirrored atmosphere of one of the temples so much that they decided to try to duplicate the effect in a small space.  It sounded from her comments like she gets only enthusiastic responses to it–people who love it or hate it.    Anyway, it was a great conversation starter and I thought to myself how fun it would be to have such a room and then listen for reactions when visitors saw it for the first time.

The other “game” involved each of us telling the group about a little-known fact about ourselves.  I thought of a bunch of facts about myself once I really sat down and concentrated, but I ended up telling the group that I have a blog.  They asked me for the address, and this morning it was really fun to find a couple of comments from my local friends on my blog.  Welcome ladies!  Several of the other guests at the party told me about their blogs, and I’ve been visiting those this afternoon.  It’s awesome to get to know people in this format–Colin said that he thinks he’s going to tell the Elder’s Quorum about his new idea to ask their Home Teaching families if they blog because he thinks that would help them get to know each other better.  Not a bad idea for Visiting Teachers either, actually. 

Our ride home was uneventful, though a little rainy.  When I got home Colin had been fighting a losing battle for a half hour trying to get Degen to bed, and was happy to turn that task over to me.  I wish I knew why Degen won’t go to bed for him…

Tags: Blogging, Kids