Laura’s shower went well. She wanted to keep it smaller so she kept it to family and closer friends. My parents made it up and I was happy to see them. My dad has never liked to be too long without mom and even more so now in these feeble weeks while he’s recovering. He looked good though. Laura’s mom is still recovering and is in that feeble stage as well. She’s getting out more now and is glad she had the surgery done.

There’s a family from our church that I overlooked with invitations. I was telling Ethan about it, asking where they were at with the RSVP’s. If they were going to have room I’d try to invite them but he’s taken on the job of keeping the guest list to no more people. As it stands the dining hall is mostly at capacity and Laura’s already added the summer’s new senior counselors. I did find out that we are doing a mother son dance.

So I picked the song for that and told Laura. We were talking during the mint making that it was kind of a joke that she and Ethan have never danced. The night they went to her senior prom together he never asked her. I had thought about reminding him to make sure he asks her to dance since her mom had told me how excited she was for this prom. I just figured he would know that this was a dance and that he would ask her.

But apparently it was still one of the best nights of her life and they had a great time just talking the entire night. One of the games at the shower is we had to outline and order their love story on note cards. Every guest received a card with a milestone or a picture. Most of us there knew enough of the answers including that the first kiss happened on the engagement night. The day I first heard that I was completely floored.

And my whole view changed. It was one of those times where I had never been more wrong, and in that moment had never been more amazed. “See???”, my daughter said. Even with discords she knew her brother, and yes we know there are good things. “Not everyone is like you, Mom”, and instead of a dig it’s like a banner of hope. I will take it, gladly, because it means it wasn’t a waste. We gave them the template of how not to be.