I went somewhere today where men do not normally go.

I was afraid. What would I wittiness? What kind of "party games" would I be subject to?

I had a long drive ahead of me - I had to drive all the way into the city to pick-up my mom and then drive all the way out to Long Grove.

This was going to be a long day.

The event? A baby shower.

I have never been to one of these things. I always thought that only women go to them. I was invited under the auspices of being the "official photographer" and somehow, that soothed my building anxiety.

The party was actually at a very small McMansion in a very nice McMansion development. It was very small as McMansions go, but - what a nice house.

So, I grabbed the camera (a nice Canon EOS Digital Rebel - it was nice handling an SLR again) and attempted to blend into the walls as much as I could, but, as the day progressed, I was meeting people that I haven't seen in quite a few years.

Somewhere along the way, I had fully expected to see the guests exchanging secret handshakes and greetings, only meant to bee seen and experienced by that secret inner sanctum of womanhood.

I tried grabbing as many candids as possible. I didn't want to intrude at all and put together any posed groups of people. There was food - that I grabbed after everyone grabbed theirs - and found Carol and Buffy in a room by themselves, so I holed-up with them for some discussions for a while, before I went back to taking shots of people gathered in the different rooms in the house.

It was time for the gifts and that's when I witnessed one of those rituals you only hear about being on the outside if these events: The Ribbon Game. There were small spools of ribbon around the house that everyone was grabbing and using (in some cases, very odd) techniques to cut the ribbon to a certain length. Everyone seemed to know what to do and some were in groups comparing lengths.

Then they all gathered in the living room and the gifts were opened. It's hard to try to get shots of things like this because I don't like running in front of people, blocking views, and being in the way. I'd rather be behind everyone, so I can just be an outside observer looking in on the event. Use of staircases and chairs are musts.

So, tied to the gift opening, was... the ritual. After the gift(s) were opened, the gift-giver would bring their ribbon to the guest of honor and stretch the ribbon around the honoree's largest part of her belly, to see how close they come to her circumference.

Apparently, this can be cut-throat. Some gift bearers were off by feet in length. Some were close to within an inch.

It required a measure-off between 3 people. It was down to making absolutely sure that the measurements were taken in exactly the same spot, for moving and inch up or down the body could make the ribbon the winner. The winner? The mother of the honoree!

What an odd ritual. I am told there are other "games" that could have been played, but they weren't played today.

After the gifts was cake, and everyone eventually started to leave. I think I grabbed about 120 shots or so. Hopefully I was able to record the event.

I can't tell you how odd I felt being there - an outsider and yet not. Did I enjoy it? You mean, other than shooting it?

Yes. I guess I did.

Still an odd ritual...