When one's 40th birthday party approaches, you tend to look out for the telltale hints that something surprising has been scheduled. Over the past few weeks I had noticed a certain secrecy in the house and it did not take long before the secrets started to reveal themselves.
First, my son, bless his heart, was so excited about my surprise party on my birthday that he would often start talking about it and I would have to ask him to stop. At one point, I actually sent him to another room so he wouldn't over-speak.
The best of the reveals was from my dear old Dad. My parents, down from North Carolina, called me to wish me happy birthday. My Dad said...
"So are you excited about everyone coming over tonight... oh, your mother just hit me like I wasn't supposed to say that."
Hilarious.
Secret #1, revealed.
At that point, my intuition was fully realized and I asked my wife what I could do to assist. She said she still had some surprises in store for me. About an hour later my wife is in the shower and the phone rings. Its a florist...
"Mr. Bauer, we have a delivery for you for your birthday and we seem to have the wrong address."
I give them the correct address and tell my wife, who had now finished her shower, that she REALLY needs to answer the phone from now on.
Secret #2, revealed. My wife said there were still more surprises.
Later on, after the flowers had arrived and still hours before the party, I walk into the bedroom and my wife is putting the finishing touches on a beautiful collage of my life.
Secret #3, revealed. I suggest using the door lock next time.
Later, I was outside throwing the football with my son and my daughter comes out, holding the phone against her chest, asking...
"Dad, Uncle Charles wants to know if they still need to come over early to surprise you."
The question itself really holds the answer, doesn't it? But, just in case, I said "No, darling."
The surprise actually came to my guests, as I greeted them at the door, telling them not to tell me about the party because it would ruin my surprise. Later, when everyone had arrived, I asked if I should leave and re-enter the house, to make it official. They said to just shut up and open my presents.
My wife did hold one final surprise for me. My sister Mary had come all the way down from Georgia to come to the party and spend the night. It was so great. Mary is one of my older sisters and has six kids, almost all of which are now grown and living their own life. So, it has been rare for us so far to find time to just sit and talk. We spent that evening catching up on life, find out about each other, great stuff like that. It was awesome.
The next day we watched the Bucs/Bears game. She, liking Atlanta, wanted the Bears to win, but was very good about not rubbing the Bucs loss in our faces. I took her to the airport Sunday evening and she made it home okay.
Overall, the four day holiday weekend was great. I got to see my brother Steve and family from Atlanta and my brother Paul and family from Houston. Everyone else in my family made it to my birthday party and I also got to spend time with my closest friends.
Though the party did not go off without a hitch, it was still a very touching and memorable 40th birthday party.
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2 comments:
Sure, make it part of your Chronicle... and yes, Dad did say that :)
Well here is another Dad gets us wrong story Pete. I think I told you about Theresa and I being in Dunkin Donuts on my birthday while in Orlando right? Well I had been waiting for Theresa to say 'Happy Birthday' but she never did 'cause she forgot. Mom call while we were sipping our coffee and I thanked her for calling and Theresa was very embarassed. BUT, Mom puts Dad on the phone and he said to me (I am serious here) almost the EXACT same words he had asked you! So he is still confusing us after all these years. I didn't respond to his question about if I'm please so many people are coming to my party cause I knew he was talking about you!!! Sigh!!!
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