The Misunderstood Black Woman

Survival XXXIII

I smiled as I posed for photos with Bryson and our families. My hair was done in a curly updo and my makeup was done naturally, I wore a long peach dress with a sequin V neck and a pair of nude loafers. I had a gut feeling that I would be having a girl so I decorated half of the place with light pink decorations, and the other half was decorated with light blue in case I was having a boy.

My belly was huge now considering that I was thirty-five weeks along, I never felt this uncomfortable in my life. After the photos ended, I sat down at one of the tables and sighed in relief. I noticed that Bryson wouldn't stop staring at me, I hoped he knew that I wasn't having another baby for a few years. It was hot outside and the backyard wasn't air-conditioned, the last week of May was always brutal in Illinois.

Guests stopped by to admire us before they went to the buffet line to grab a plate of food. We decided to transform Bryson's parent's backyard into a tea party-themed baby shower. We got pink and blue floral arrangements for the tables and Brenda purchased a white floral wall for people to take pictures at. For the buffet, we catered some seafood, barbecue, and healthier options for the older guests. We also had a fruit and salad bar, with a variety of desserts to go along with the three-tier cake.

Bryson made me a plate of food and I sat down at one of the long tables with my family and friends. Altogether we had about two hundred people come out and support us, majority of the people were family but we also invited all of our friends and some coworkers. For some reason today I felt a little off so I tried to remain focused on the event and celebrate my pregnancy.

To my surprise, my mom and Brenda were getting along like they were best friends. They set everything up together and they were also making sure that the shower was running smoothly. My family kept coming over to speak to me, so I tried to make my rounds to greet everyone and chat. There were so many guests that I honestly lost track of who was here, the majority of the guests went over to the dance floor to do the traditional family dances.

I joined in at some point and started to learn some of the new dances that my brother's generation was doing. I had to stop after a couple of songs because my lower back started to cramp up and burn. I sat down again and ate some fruit to cool off, our mom's started the baby shower games so it was fun to watch the men try to change diapers and guess my belly size.

After the baby shower games ended, it was time to open the gifts. Since there were roughly two hundred guests, the presents were stacked up high like a mountain. I thanked God that we still didn't get the majority of the baby's stuff because we would have no room. I smiled when I saw a unique variety of unisex clothing and shoes. We also got another crib, a couple of bassinets, and a play pin. Lastly, the majority of the other gifts were bottles, wipes, diapers, toys, and some gift cards. Bryson and I made our last rounds to hug everyone and thank them for their contributions.

I felt immensely blessed and loved by the amount of support we were receiving from everyone. After another hour, almost everyone left so we started to clean up and pack up the leftovers. My friends and I offered to clean everything up while Brenda and my mom drove all the presents and food back to our house. Once again, I had to sit down because my lower back was killing me again. I decided to not say anything because I wanted to quickly pack up and head home.

All of the guests left except for Geia, Yvette, Isabel, and Jordana. Diana also stayed behind to help clean everything up. Whitley left along with our parents so she could put Telia and Terrance to sleep since they were getting cranky. I thought that Bryson introducing Diana to the family would be a bad idea, but Brenda and Davion were open to the idea. Whitley on the other hand felt like something was off about her, so showed her attitude the entire time. I understand why she was upset about the situation, I also felt the same negative vibe from Diana.