Last weekend Sharon gave a baby shower for her 8-month pregnant daughter, Caitlin.

I’ve known Caitlin from the moment she was born, as I witnessed her arrival as well as the birth of my godson Martin. To them I’m Auntie Janet. I’d say it’s the nicest name I’ve ever been called.

Anyway, Sharon asked me to make a watermelon baby carriage for the shower. A WHAT?! I’ve never even seen one let alone carved one. That’s like asking a budding sculpturist to create Michelangelo’s David. Yikes, the pressure!

After a couple attempts of begging Sharon to ask someone else to do it, someone who actually had a clue, I gave up when she emailed me photos of watermelon carriages.

Now don’t get me wrong; I eventually reasoned that carving a watermelon was probably the least I could do being I’m Auntie Janet, right? Thus began my tour of YouTube videos on how to carve the perfect carriage.

If you don’t already know, Sharon is Martha Stewart Jr. I kid you not. Creativity oozes from her like chocolate lava cake. She knows how to decorate a home like a designer, paint just about anything, cook and bake like a chef and sew clothing (pattern or not) that you’d think she bought at Nordstrom.

Oh, and she arranges flowers just like a florist.

In other words, Sharon runs circles around the rest of us. Although she’d NEVER criticize anyone’s contribution, I’m aware she recognizes something crappy when she sees it. And I was certain my something would look crappy.

So off I went to the grocery store. I dare you to name a fruit that wasn’t in the carriage. Kiwi? Certainly. Mango? Of course. Cantaloupe? Try harder. Blueberries? Now you’re just giving up. Then the carving began while I quietly cursed Sharon under my breath so as not to frighten my pets.

Guess what? I learned something the videos didn’t show. When scraping out the melon, expect a watermelon bath to ensue. My face was practically dripping with juice so I wore my pandemic mask. Problem solved.

A couple hours later I discovered I didn’t have a big enough orange for the baby’s head and went back to the grocery store. When I got home I realized I didn’t have a pacifier so off I went again. When the slicing and dicing began, I knew it would take some time so I watched a Netflix movie and actually finished with all my fingers intact.

The thing about Sharon is, you know what she’s thinking before she even says a word. You can read it on her face. So I expected a polite, “Oh it looks wonderful!” even if her eyes said otherwise. But her reaction was the opposite. Apparently she and Caitlin loved that dang carriage. What a relief.

Then Karen arrived with her assignment of deviled eggs with Vienna sausage babies in them. I know, weird huh? Apparently it’s a thing. But after going through 3 dozen eggs, she ended up with just 1 dozen and only 2 containing sausage babies because they didn’t look how she wanted. Apparently I wasn’t the only one being challenged.

Anyway, arriving at the shower, Karen tripped and dropped one of the egg trays. We had a good laugh over that, including Karen. But unlike Humpty Dumpty, we were able to put them back together again and nobody was the wiser. Funny thing is, all the eggs were eaten except the two with the Vienna sausage babies.

Twenty one of us played games, just like baby showers of old, and Caitlin received some adorable gifts for their baby boy.

It was a lovely afternoon with old friends celebrating the soon-to-be arrival of someone new. I left feeling grateful and not solely because it was my first (and last) attempt at carving a watermelon baby carriage.