Surprise Birthday party for me...

Last Saturday, my daughter Adeena invited us up so that my husband Rick could help Jeff with some wiring. They are renovating their kitchen, so that made sense to me. Adeena's birthday was the next day, so I suggested that we celebrate it then, and I told her that I'd bake her a cake.

When we arrived at Adeena's home, I noticed Betty's friend John wandering by the garden. That was odd. I said to Rick, "What is John doing here?" No answer. Then I noticed my great-nephew Arthur playing by the shed. What was he doing there, I wondered.

I went into the house and was met at the door by Adeena and Heather! They both had silly grins on their faces, and I demanded to know what John was doing there. The girls told me to come to the shed. My gears started grinding pretty quickly. I had been wondering why my husband switched his driving job with the other driver, and had been very vague in answering me when I asked him about it.

Well, we got to the shed and there were all kinds of people: friends, family members, extended family, and so on! They had decorated the shed with balloons, and Sarah had put together a bunch of posters with pictures of our family. They even found one of me when I was a young girl.

The meal was amazing: steak and chicken, salads of every description, fruit, pie, tarts, cake - they thought of everything. We sat and ate and talked and laughed, then later sat around a campfire and visited.

The thing that touched me the most is that my children (especially the oldest ones) worked so hard to plan and pull off a surprise birthday party, for me...they honoured me more than I can describe. My birthday isn't actually until December, but they wanted it to be a surprise, and they wanted all of the grandkids there, so an outside party in August was the logical choice.

The only trouble with the whole thing is that now I feel fifty. And I really don't turn fifty until December. Honest, I don't!