Sharing the Journey

Sharing in this journey to being a grandma is my best friend Julie. Her son and daughter-in-law, Dave and Katie, are expecting their first baby and her first grandchild in about 5 weeks. Julie and I have been friends for 20 years. We met when our sons were in cub scouts together and we lived in the same neighborhood. We have been through a lot together, good and bad. Our lives have been on parallel paths. Our sons graduated the same year and we planned grad parties, then they both got engaged and we planned weddings together. We hoped and dreamed we would get to be grandmas together. She has been on Cloud 9 since she got the news about Dave and Katie's baby and was almost as excited to hear about Shauna and Noah's baby. We are having so much fun planning Grandmahood. Playdates are a must. Sharing this happy journey with your best friend makes it even more special!

Today was Katie's baby shower. What fun! I think Julie was as excited as the parents-to-be! It was so fun to see all those little blue outfits, soft blankets, cute teddy bears, and more. Katie is expecting a boy, so we figure Shauna will have one too, since our lives seem to be almost identical.

Yesterday, as we were preparing for the shower, I was looking through my baby scrapbooking supplies. I found a card from our dear friend Debbie, who died in 1999. She was #3 of our Three Country Friends business and we just loved her. Her battle with cancer was one of the bad things Julie and I went through together. But here was this card Debbie sent me many years ago with baby stickers in it. I had completely forgotten about it, but there it was, in her beautiful handwriting. I showed it to Julie and we both got teary-eyed and knew she was there with us in spirit. She would have loved to have been there.... and how we would have loved to share this with her. The Lord gives and takes away.