As Small Paw already mentioned, a big group of friends came to visit us last week and it was wonderful. At first only Shanna was going to come. Then Sam and Micha heard about her visit and decided to come as well. As soon as we told Claudia about that, she was in as were Giulia and Chiara. After that, Firi didn’t take long to decide that he wanted to come as well.
When we realized that so many of our friends were going to be in one place at the same time, we figured it would be the perfect time to celebrate Small Paw’s “baptism”. We didn’t want to baptize her in church but we did have godparents picked out and it would be much more fun to cement that newfound responsibility of theirs with a little party – and witnesses.
Because the godfather, Firi, is Jewish and the godmother, Claudia, is Catholic, we came up with the name “Simchat Bautizo”. Simchat Bat = Jewish naming ceremony for girls, bautizo = baptism in Spanish. (Anyone of actual religious affiliation reading this, feel free to stop reading now and leave in a huff.)
As we were throwing around ideas for a ceremony, Conor had the brilliant brainfart to plant a tree for Small Paw. We don’t have a garden or even a very large balcony but there’s a big forrest just behind our town and who would notice an extra tree there anyway? (Here’s to hoping the Calvià forrest service doesn’t read Paws on the Road…) Of course, this being my darling husband the tree couldn’t just be planted anywhere. No, it had to be on top of the hill. At the end of July.
The plan was to guide the whole troupe up to the tower, plant the tree, throw some water over Small Paw’s head and feet, have a bit of wine and then walk down the other side of Camp de Mar for dinner. Thank god we have friends with better sense.
Since it is around 32 C during the day, we’d picked early evening as the best time. Before everyone arrived we went on a scouting mission for the best tree planting location and found a few good spots although we also noticed for the first time just how rocky and dry the earth was up there. And it was quite toasty. Hmm…
When our friends arrived someone made the sensible suggestion to dig the hole for the tree in advance to save some time. BEST. IDEA. EVER. Not only did it take the digging party several hours in the morning, they were also tired, drenched in sweat and really dead all over after the ordeal. No idea how we thought this might work in the evening, before dinner.
So with the hole dug and the tree lugged up already, we figured we were golden. Only it was still 32 C at 6pm and we were simply melting. Which is when Shanna had the second best idea ever: let’s do dinner first and plant the tree afterwards, in the dark. Brilliant! Off to dinner we went.
We ate at the Petit Ambassador in Camp de Mar, a nice place right by the beach. Claudia had brought cute little goodie bags for everyone and the wine (and alcohol-free beer) flowed freely.
With our bellies filled and the temperature down to a balmy 27 C, we started the slog up the hill. The advance party – with baby Small Paw and toddler Chiara – drove as far as the road allowed before starting their ascent while the rest of us walked up through the mansion-filled neighborhood.
I’m not going to say much about the ascent, suffice to say it was hot and dark and besides Sam no one was dressed adequately. But we made it nevertheless and damn did it feel good to stand on top of that hill and feel a bit of a breeze!
Once we were all up there things moved quickly: Conor made a little speech, the tree went into its hole with a bit of earth, we watered it, the godparents put some water on Small Paw’s head and then on everyone else’s head too because it felt wonderful and then it was almost midnight already so we began our descent, dreaming about the cool sea and cold beers below.
Thank you all for coming and making this the most memorable baptism ever. Let’s hope the tree will grow big and strong!
Absolutely love it. Always excited like it’s Christmas whenever I see an update of your dyslexic blog.