Happy Birthday to Me...Again

This is an unexpected addition to the previous blog entry. Earlier this week my friends, Jewelsp and Janel, invited me to a movie night. The three of us were going to watch a Jane Austen flick or something equally acceptable for a “girl’s night”. Janel revealed that they had a birthday gift for me but both wanted to be present when I opened it. So I planned on a quiet evening with my gal pals. I even debated on whether to change into pajamas. How fortuitous that I chose not to change.

I am habitually on time or early to everything. I’m usually the first to parties much to my chagrin. Even when I'm intentionally late, I am the perpetual first guest. Determined to arrive at Jewelsp's house after Janel, I distracted myself. I played the piano and succeeded in detaining myself a whopping ten minutes. I pulled up at the house and Janel’s car was already there. I had achieved my goal. Jewelsp’s parents were outside doing yard work and invited me to join. I laughed and respectfully declined, offering my services for a later date. Her mom wanted to see the Jane Austen movies I had brought with me (The new Masterpiece Theater versions that came out a couple months ago. Thanks Mom!). I showed her and their daughter and then asked if I could walk in the house, seeing as they weren’t inside to answer the door. Upon entry, Jewelsp and Janel were sitting on the couch and jumped up to greet me. Her mom and sister followed me inside (I should have suspected something at this point.). I showed them my birthday present and her mom said that she might come watch the movie with us later. Jewelsp exclaimed, “But first you have to see our basement. It’s finished! We have carpet and everything.” This veritably spewed forth at a rapid pace…another clue. I thought nothing of it seeing how she’d been anxious for this basement reconstruction to be finished. I followed her downstairs and said, “New carpet! I love it. It looks…” “SURPRIIIIIIIISE!!”

I’m not sure exactly what happened but my friends were nice enough to reenact it for me later. I jumped back (I don’t think I did the “shaky thing” as my family refers.). Jewelsp’s other sister told me that I said, “Holy Freakin’ Heck!” though I don’t remember. My brain was trying to process what was going on as I took in the faces of some of my closest friends holding posters. I was blinded by flashes which added to my brain lapse. I tried to smile, though in the pictures it looks more like a grimace. Then I walked away. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, you see, I’ve never had a surprise party before. This was new territory or should I say “terror”-tory. I was terrified. I couldn’t stop shaking as they can all attest. Thankfully I didn’t cry, I composed myself and hugged all of my wonderful friends and thought how grateful I was that I hadn’t change into pajamas. I also had placed little care in my appearance since it was just “the girls”, so I was also reprimanding myself as I saw that there were guys. Not that I was supposed to know that.

I was thoroughly flattered and embarrassed having so much attention showered upon me. I wanted to climb into the pantry while they sang happy birthday. I don’t really know why. I guess I’m just not used to that much attention (I’m used to hiding behind a piano.). The cake was practically my size and there was a variety of enticing food. We spent the night talking and playing video games. It was a blast! Apparently the party had been in the works for a month. My family was in on it and had planned to come, but couldn’t at the last minute. I was astonished that all involved were able to keep it a secret (even my three year old nephew.). I am a hard person to hide things from. I have excellent deductive reasoning skills and am very intuitive when people are concealing things from me. As I look back, there were clues all over the place, but I didn’t pay attention and therefore had no idea this was taking place. They did an incredible job. In all honesty, I had daydreams of something like this happening, but thought those dreams would never come to fruition. I’ve always wanted a surprise party and those closest to me made a wish come true!

Thank you!!! As I said in the previous blog, I love you guys! You are some of the greatest people I’ve ever known and I hope we remain friends for years to come! Don’t worry, when those years come, I’m sure we’ll still have some of that cake.