SURPISE!!

I can finally talk about what I have been planning for months, because it is all over. This summer I started thinking about what I could for T's big 30th birthday. I wanted something memorable, so I decided to plan a surprise party. I enlisted a friend from work to help and then began the super secret planning process.

It was quite a challenge considering we work in the same place. I put together these invitations using a baby picture and a current picture. It was quite a source of frustration for me, since I am far from a computer genius. Usually I would ask T for help. When I finally finished, I felt like the smartest person to ever touch a keyboard. I had Kinko's print them up for me and then surreptitiously passed them out.

I asked T's mom to provide me with many embarrassing pictures from his last 30 years and then put them in little frames to be displayed throughout the party. I ordered a cake with a grim reaper on it. I planned my appetizers and organized with my partner-in-crime. Everything was going smoothly.

Then, my perfectly-hatched plan ran into some problems. Usually T goes to his MBA classes all day Saturday. I thought I would have several hours to get things ready. However, his classes were cancelled. He was going to be home all day. I created an aerobics meeting I had to go to, and sent T to a play date with Q. Then in my hour and a half window I tore around getting decorations, snacks, and picking up the cake. It was pouring and ten balloons were swaying back and forth in the backseat of my little Sunfire. I dumped all the paraphernalia at my cohort's home, and then called T. He had been out of his play date for half an hour and was wondering where I was.

I covered with a story about craving cheese curds (which was partly true), and we met at home. Fairly quickly we realized Q was not feeling good. He spent the rest of the day alternately crying and screaming. He kept touching his mouth and drooled through three shirts and six bibs. T said he had fallen and hit his teeth on the coffee table earlier in the day. We took Q in to the doctor, who said nothing was wrong with him. We spent the day trying to convince him to eat, rocking him, and administering Tylenol.

The three of us went to get ice cream that evening at precisely 8 p.m. with a quick stop for Orajel at Rite-Aid. I text messaged my friend as we left and made sure to keep the door unlocked. I nervously slurped at my ice cream. I was surprised how nerve-wracking it all was. Then a quick text message from the bathroom informed the assembled party-goers we would return in ten minutes.

In the garage, I said, "I'll get Q," and T went in first. He seemed genuinely shocked as "Surprise!!" rang out. He said he didn't expect a thing. I was so happy to pull it all off. We had a great crowd and a very good time. T did a few shots, which he doesn't often do, and felt a little queasy by the end of the night. Despite that, he was touched and happy, and that made it all worth it.

--MM