Baptism weekend

This was a big weekend, following on the heels of a week of being sick. I am so glad the baptism was this weekend and not last, or we would've had a sniffly baby and a feverish mommy and uncomfortable guests in the backyard under the baking sun with not a speck of shade. Last Monday, hoping fresh air would bring some relief from the frying pan the upstairs had become, I ventured out into the proverbial fire. This obviously brought no relief, only worry about packing 50 people into a spot that suddenly looked so inhospitable at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. The one place Jack and I could seek refuge during that heat wave was the bathtub, and I was pretty sure that was out of the question for entertaining. But thanks to providence, a high pressure system, or good old-fashioned luck, the heat had passed (along with the fever) by midweek and I didn't have find out where I could rent a tent as big as our backyard to keep our guests from getting burnt to a crisp. By the time this weekend rolled around, it was gorgeous.

Friday was my departmental symposium, an all day affair of research presentations that I probably would not have spent the $80 on a babysitter to attend had Melissa and Bill not already fortuitously been in town for the baptism. But I was more than happy to take advantage of the excellent timing and let Jack have a special day with his grandparents while I learned about various sundry ESPM topics such as sudden oak death (not all that sudden, not only oaks, and not always fatal) and environmental responsibility in Bhutan. I left them with several bottles in the fridge, packed my pump, and said goodbye to my baby for the longest time I would be without him since he entered my life. That was kind of crazy once I thought about it. For four months I had not been away from my baby for more than four hours. In that light, the day felt surprisingly mundane. I'm not sure what they did all day, but when I got home Jack was in a fantastic mood, all riled up and squealing, so excited to show his grandparents all of his new tricks. These include: pumping his right arm up and down to get himself swinging in his little bouncy chair (that will not be able to withstand his great force much longer, I'm afraid), giggling, rolling over onto his side and simultaneously reaching for something behind his head, grabbing faces and shirts and just about anything within arm's reach, kicking and stomping and going so completely rigid he can almost stand up. I think grandma and grandpa were almost as excited about these new tricks as Jack was.

If Friday was grandparent day, Saturday was godparent day. Julia and Scott arrived from LA and Philadelphia, respectively, in the late morning. Parents, godparents, and grandparents packed up the baby and a picnic full of fancy cheeses, embarking on a pilgrimage to see the Dalai Lama, who was speaking at the Greek theater in Berkeley. We did not have tickets, but Danny and I had enjoyed concerts that we'd also lacked tickets to in the past by sitting atop the hill behind the theater, and thought we could employ the same strategy here. I thought it would be a nice way to commemorate Jack's baptismal weekend, to go hear what His Holiness had to say and hope that some of that eternal enlightenment might rub off on us. Sadly, His Holiness speaks very softly. We strained to hear, but only caught one word: peace. I guess if there's one word you want to hear the Dalai Lama say, though, that's it. And maybe that was an appropriate blessing for Jack, anyway. We had our picnic in an unfamiliar glade on campus (specifically seeking out the unfamiliar so that I wouldn't feel like the pilgrimage had turned into a busman's holiday) and went up to the top of the campanile to take in the views. I can't believe I'd never done that before. We had walked all over creation by this point, so it really was starting to feel like a pilgrimage, and then we had the nice long walk back as well. But it was wonderful. Cleansing. A very poetic day, all in all. Bill and Melissa stayed with Jack so we could take Julia and Scott out for drinks to celebrate their godparenthood and ask them the big questions like "what were your godparents like?" and "if you had to face the apocalypse with a peer, a historical figure, a famous contemporary, and a fictional character, who would you choose?"

The next day brought much joy and pageantry. Jack wore the baptismal outfit that his nana made for him, complete with buttons that had been on his namesake great-grandpa Jack's christening gown. That was very special. He got dunked three times (once each for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and cried out in alarm on the first one, kicking and writhing so much that I thought Father Mark might drop him. But he didn't, and by the time he held Jack up for everyone to applaud, Jack had acquired this serenity that came from I don't know where, considering he was wet and naked in front of a whole bunch of strangers. But babies love being naked, and Jack apparently loves applause. It was a very moving moment, to feel like all these people were suddenly so invested in Jack, so happy to celebrate his life. After Father Mark anointed him with oil that made his little head smell sweet for the rest of the day, he said something beautiful about welcoming him into the community that I can't quite remember but that made me cry a little.

And after that came a great big party! We had 50 rsvp's earlier in the week and there were a few more trickling in up to the day of, but by then I'd stopped counting and just determined that we were throwing a Big Party and needed lots of everything. This is definitely the most people we'd ever had over to our place, and probably the biggest party we'd ever thrown aside from our wedding. This felt a lot like the wedding actually. And not just because it was a bright sunny day with a vast amount of responsible meat on a large grill. It's so great to have occasions like this to bring together all the different parts of your life: my family came up from San Jose, Danny's family friends came down from Sacramento, neighbors wandered over, church friends came after mass, the Stanford crew made a great showing, and what the Berkeley crew lacked in numbers (a friend was having her bachelorette party this same weekend) they made up for in gusto. And it's so fun to see your neighbor talking to your college roommate or your church friends entertaining your cousins or your grandma being charmed by your husband's godfather's daughter. Such wonderful people in our lives! I'm so thankful for these friendships, for these people making the time to help us celebrate Jack, and to Bill and Melissa for doing all the work behind the scenes to make it happen. What a lucky kid Jack is! I'm so excited for him to get to know all these people someday.