I know no one around here, save for a few writer friends (I only know two particularly well, and one of those lost his only child a year and a half ago. Not gonna drag him into any baby glee.) I'm going home for 4 days in a few weeks. I'm having my gender scan next week at 15.5 weeks. I thought "I think my grandmas would at least like there to be a LITTLE baby shower." So I told my mom.

Mom: "So we invite the library ladies, and your aunts and uncles will be coming out, and your great aunts, and we should invite this person...."

Me: *twitch, twitch*

OK, so I'd feel awkward not inviting some of my old library co-workers - they're kind of like aunts and older sisters. But I feel awkward inviting them since I'm not really an active part of their life now.

And it'd be a little weird if my aunts and uncles from Nebraska and Wisconsin come down (for the 4th) and aren't invited, though again, it feels weird since baby showers are a lot about gifts.

It'd be rude to not invite my aunt and uncle from Minnesota - but they are poor, and I didn't make it to their son's wedding reception (he was home from KOREA for one week!) because we just couldn't fathom traveling yet another weekend... less than a month after they drove down from Minnesota for MY wedding, where my uncle and cousins worked hard to make things run smoothly for me - plus they JUST had their first grandbaby within the past few months (guilty conscience, much?)

And my sister-in-law is the person my mom plans to call to help set it up when my nephew's 2nd birthday is that week and I didn't even MAKE it to her shower for him. So that's just awkward all over (mind you, she, as a bridesmaid, wanted me to order and pay for her dress without telling me her size - so I can't feel too bad for the awkwardness there.)

There are a handful of people (maybe 4 that aren't mom or grandmas) that I think would actually WANT to come. But mostly, I'd feel guilty about inviting all those people! Showers tend to not be gift-optional things, and I don't want to put that on people who wouldn't have done something in the first place.