a shout out to my baTchies

I've been meaning to write a baTchie post since way back in October when, on my 3oth birthday, a wonderful surprise arrived on my doorstep. But before I tell about that, let me explain the baTchies.... We are a group of friends, most of whom, not including me, attended graduate school together at UC Santa Cruz. A couple of us, including me, were brought into the group through our friendships with these other wonderful women. We call ourselves the baTchies because many of us got engaged within a couple years of each other and we all attended each other's bachelorette parties. Somewhere along the way, "bachelorette" got shortened to "bachie," then someone spelled it "batchie," which gave us a good laugh, and soon enough the "t" got capitalized and became a part of us, along with a dance/salute and many other bachlorette party traditions that I dare not mention on this PG rated blog.

Soon enough, we baTchies started having babies. It started with Katie, my friend from college, who was also the first to get married (to another friend from college). Claudia was next, followed by Shelly, me, and AJ, all in a row. Teresa had the next (the first girl since Katie's Violet, after four boys in a row), and finally back to Katie for the first of the second round of baTchie babies, although a very important baTchie, Stephanie, can still technically claim the title of bachelorette.

I am the only one left in Santa Cruz and we are about as spread out as could be, but these crafty chicks (and those of us who are forced to feign craftiness, me included) have created the awesome tradition of celebrating and honoring each other's marriages and births with beautiful crafts that bring us together in spirit. So, back to that package that arrived on my doorstep... It turned out to be a mobile for Ewan, assembled by Katie, but with a piece from each of the baTchies representing where they each settled post-Santa Cruz, for example, an origami style ball made from subway tickets from Teresa, who moved to NYC. Ewan LOVED this mobile, which hung from a light fixture over our kitchen table until very recently, when we replaced the light fixture from which it was hanging. (All the time it hung there, I neglected to get a photo of it. I suppose I was too busy taking pictures of the baby who loved to stare at it.) It is packed away now, but, even though it was made for Ewan, it will surely make a reappearance when baby #2 comes along.

I have been thinking a lot of my baTchie friends with the births of the most recent babies, and I wanted to say an official congratulations to Teresa and Eric, for the birth of Jun Marie Elene Logue on March 13, 2010, and to Katie and Alden for the birth of Field Fulton Griffith on April 19, 2010!

Here's to Violet, Axel, Alder, Ewan, Fionn, Jun, and Field (are those great names, or what?) and their rockin' mamas! When's the reunion?