One/Changemaking one change at a time

In mid-July my sister, Kathryn, threw me the greatest baby shower.? It definitely did not/would not fall into the traditional baby shower category, but that is part of what I loved about it.? She made it custom.? Just for me.? I love that what mattered most to her was that I felt comfortable, loved, and celebrated and not that the shower follow an etiquette that she knew was not important to me.? Over the years I have found that to be known and cared for by someone does not happen easily or often.? Therefore, when someone in my life takes the time to invest so steadily and deeply as my sister has it really means the world to me.

A huge part of who I am, as you may have gathered from this site, has to do with my desire to live my life in a way that hopefully leaves the world at least a little better than I found it.? This means caring for the Earth and the people living in it.? Since, Kathryn managed to put together something very special that, more than anything else, made me feel cared for and known by incorporating my values (including these ones) I wanted to share a little bit of the day with you.

For those who like stories:

The shower was a relaxed picnic that took place at my favorite beach here in Seattle.? The day before, she and I headed out to the farmer’s market to pick out fresh, local and organic fruits and vegetables.? We left the market, our bellies stuffed with all sorts of delicious samples, bags of fresh produce, and some cherries that were gifted to us by a farmer.? Kathryn then transformed our loot into a delicious spread that we all enjoyed at the shower with the sun over head, grass under feet, and a beautiful scene of Mt. Rainer and Lake Washington before us.

In the evite, Kathryn requested that the presents come unwrapped because babies love trees too.? This also served the double purpose of keeping me out of the gift-unwrapping-spotlight.? What unfolded next was so much better than the usual formal unwrapping of presents.? It casually began with someone wanting to show me what they brought and ended with all of us sitting under the shade of a tree, exploring and passing around the various gifts.? We then lazed around chatting until friends dispersed and then we packed up and headed on our merry way.

For those who like lists:

Here is a list of the ways that Kathryn made the shower an event that treaded lightly on this Earth that we are trying to protect for our little one so that he can play freely and safely.

1. The table center pieces were potted plants from a local nursery (which I got to take home!).
2. We used real silverware.
3. The napkins were square pieces of fabric that she cut out using pinking shears to keep them from fraying with the idea being that I could then sew them into a quilt for our baby boy.? (I thought this idea was genius!!!!)
4. For glasses we used cleaned out mason jars.
5. We used serving platters that we had around the house.
6. Saved glass milk jugs with corks served to hold our drinking water.
7. The food was bought from local, organic farmers.
8. Invitations (which were adorable) were sent using evite to save on paper.
9. Presents came unwrapped and I loved that those who couldn’t bear to bring a gift unwrapped they brought it in a reused gift bag or a reusable grocery bag.
10. Finally, my own little tip:? we registered using alternative git registry which really allowed us to customize what we registered for to fit our lifestyle.? For example, we were able to register for used or organic baby clothes, give a few suggestions for where to get them, and add the quantity we needed.

Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make this day special; and a very special thank you to Kathryn.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 2:22 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.