and other pithy sayings.
All week Darin kept saying, "Sure as Bob's your uncle," for no apparent reason other than he does, in fact, have an uncle named Bob (he of Beggar's Banquet in East Lansing, MI--that's him on the front page there).
On Friday, after another dinner involving 18 courses but only 300 attendees, we had a baby shower for Darin and me. This was supposed to be a surprise baby shower, but I suspected that this family would organize something along those lines, which is why I told Darin to take our Really Big Suitcase with, instead of our tiny roll-on suitcases.
Good thing too, considering the gifts they gave us, like the Rock 'n' Roll Ernie. A lot of books--evidently everyone expects our daughter to be reading in the bassinet. (Darin and I both started reading at 3, so perhaps she might outdo us, but we don't really think she'll start that early.) And little teeny-tiny outfits that are so cute I can't stand it.
Anyhow, most of the gifts were addressed to "Bug" or "Mr. and Mrs. Bug." One gift was to Bug from "Bug's uncles," which prompted Darin to say, "Sure as Bug's your uncle," and stick with that for the rest of the evening.
I think the existence of traditions like baby showers lend themselves to incipient hysteria.
Darin, by the way, is really, really tired of the name "Bug." For one thing, he insists that she will not have any cute nicknames post-birth, only the name we give her (which we still haven't decided on). So I really should stop using it, but until we decide what her name is (not that we're going to tell anyone until she shows up), I can't imagine what else to call her.
Although calling her Mini-Bun has its appeal: I call Darin "Bun" (as in the ubiquitous endearment "Bunny Honey"--he calls me "Hon") and our second favorite fast food joint is Cinnabon, which carries the oh-so-wonderful Cinnabon Bun and its smaller incarnation the Mini-Bun. Which tells you more about my eating habits and my personal life with Darin than you needed to know.
One of the things we did post-dinner but pre-baby shower is go over to a neighbor's house to see this fantastic 50's nostalgia collection they've put together. We started in what used to be their living room but is now a diner, complete with booths and soda fountain, plus a ton of rare Coca-Cola merchandise from the 20s through 60s. Signs that hadn't even been taken out of the box until now, that kind of thing. An antique cash register. Jukeboxes that play 78s.
Then the neighbors took us into their backyard to see their collection of restored Chevys, including a customized Bel Air--the El Morocco? now I can't remember the name--of which there are only three extant versions. The husband's hobby is restoring classic cars and he does a bee-yoo-ti-ful job of it. His cars have won several first prizes at car shows and were on the cover of Super Chevy magazine (there was a copy nearby). One of the cars was an old race car that got up to 123 miles an hour! (Gasp!)
The garage was also packed with memorabilia, primarily Coca-Cola but also placards from rock 'n' roll shows and other signs of the times.
I wish we'd had our camera for that. It was way cool, daddy-o.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Copyright 1999 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com