Surprise?!?!

Given that this blog was on hiatus for nearly a year, there are tons of things we have waiting in the wings to bring loyal readers up to date and more fun stories to share regarding our little corner of the Northwest. But excuse me for this post as its setting brings us back to the NJ home of our hero. Lisa and I spent Thanksgiving 2008 there and while it's always great seeing the family and catching up with friends in the area, this weekend had a highlight.

Now Thanksgiving fell just close enough to the date that marked two score years since my birth to tempt my wife and my mother to plan a surprise party, but would they go through the effort? I first had an inkling when my mother, far in advance of the Thanksgiving weekend, said that we would be going out to a family dinner the day after Thanksgiving to celebrate my birthday. Silly girls. Did they really think they could pull one over on me. But I needed to be sure, so put my evil plan into action. Now going through the effort of planning a party for someone is a great gesture, but if they were planning something, I would have no choice but to repay this effort on my mom's part by being as difficult as possible.

I started about a week before Thanksgiving, asking my mom if we could move the dinner to Saturday since I wanted to meet up with some friends on Friday. Mom may have gotten a bit flustered, but she was up to the task. "Uh, I don't think that's going to work, your brother has to drive back to Virginia on Saturday." Well played, Mom. Now at this point, I still wasn't positive that they were planning a party, so I also started quizzing my friends as to what they were doing over the weekend. Strangely enough all had plans on Friday night, some better constructed than others. I was growing more certain. So it was time to push Mom some more. Dinner was scheduled for 7PM. Could we push it up to six or even five-thirty so I could meet some friends for drinks afterwards? But this was just another speed bump for Mom who deftly and flawlessly delivered some excuse about my aunt being unable to make it up before seven or something like that. Kudos. I'd have to kick it up a notch.

Time to push another button, so I started to work on Lisa. A few days before we left Seattle, I started griping about being unable to plan dinner with friends due to the family dinner, however, I referred to the dinner as a "party". Lisa's poker face was solid, but not flawless. Was this the tell I was seeking? I was growing more certain.

The day after Thanksgiving arrives and we're getting ready. But something strange is occurring. It's almost seven, we're now running late for our reservation, but Mom is not pushing everyone to finish getting ready and head out the door. Critical break from character, Mom. Now I'm positive that this is a surprise party, so I have the car trip from their house to the restaurant, about 10 minutes to be as big a pain in the ass as I can.

Me: "Where are Kathleen and Lou?"
Mom: "They're meeting us at the restaurant."
Me: "I had kind of a late lunch, can we just stop at McDonald's for a snack instead of dinner?"
Me: "How long do you think this dinner will take, I still want to try to meet up with some friends?"

And so on...

We arrive at the restaurant and I see my friends' cars scattered throughout the parking lot. So now it is the moment of truth. Do I act surprised? No, that would be disingenuous, plus I'm not that good of an actor. I had thought about so many entrances, including going the route of RT's dad, Buz, who actually had a shirt made up that said "Surprise!!", which he wore under a sweater and unveiled upon entering his surprise 60th birthday party just as everyone was screaming same. I instead walked into the room with my phone held up and snapped a picture of the crowd as they cheered and snapped their own photos. I wish I had a better shot of this, but my photography skills were sorely lacking at the moment so I didn't capture the surprised looks on their faces.

A great time was had by all, and I feel bad for testing my mom and not being surprised. I really did appreciate that she and Lisa went through the effort to put together a great evening. And I can't wrap this up without a shout to Battle-sis, who actually fought for hours with fondant to make a great cake. I'm really hoping in ten years, we can just plan it together. It was really too much work on my end.