bridal showers...who first thought of them? who was the one who came up with the idea of trying to part everyone of twenty hard earned dollars, to buy gifts for a friend that they'd probably get from relatives? who thought it would be fun to stress for weeks about making sure to get tablecloths that will match, not only the napkins, the theme, and the living room couch, but also to match whatever color shoes the bride-to-be will be wearing? and I'd really love to have a chat with the person who first initiated the idea of the wrapping paper hat. who looked at the mounds and mounds of shambles of wrapping paper, newspaper, and tape and thought it would look pretty on some one's head? of course it's fun to sit and pretend to be refined young ladies, when we're really all waiting for the relatives to leave so we can talk about the real memories, the ones we'd never dare tell anyone else...it's a pit stop for the young bride in her whirlwind of gown shopping, apartment hunting, real-life preparation (real life-ness is dependant on how much the young couple is being supported) and to sit with old friends and talk and reminisce, and enjoy the sweetness of friendship, without husbands hovering in the background, trying to signal frantically to their wives that they want to leave now, can you please hurry up and finish talking, and no i can't talk to her husband, i have nothing to say to him. it's a chance to kick back, and pretend we're fifteen again, when our biggest worries were how to skip class and cross the waterfall without being caught, to see how long we can play the game of not tucking in our shirts, and (sometimes) even giving thought to our schoolwork. when friendships were much easier to maintain, because everyone was walking on the same path. before this one was moving to Israel, and this one was having a baby, before this one moved to the city, and that one went to community college...