It’s not often that I can surprise my wife. In a good way, that is.
Suz has planned and pulled off two surprise parties for me in the last few years–I’m a little slow on the uptake when it comes to paying attention to birthdays. For my 40th birthday last summer, she invited some friends over and, even after they’d arrived, I still wasn’t aware it had been planned. Duh.
Suzanne celebrated her 40th birthday last week and, with this milestone occasion, I felt we needed to do something special. With the help of some of her friends, I began laying the groundwork several weeks ago for a surprise party on Friday. I checked with her girlfriends to make sure the date was clear–no problem. Friday, Feb. 26, was good. The main issue was getting everyone to the house without blowing the surprise. Normally we have Family Movie Night each Friday, which means we’re all in our PJs and the kids stay up later than usual. I didn’t want to have guests show up unexpectedly while we were all in “relax mode;” that wouldn’t have been the good kind of surprise.
As it turns out, though, Ryan, the husband of Suz’s friend Deanne, shares the same birthday as Suzanne. Deanne and I reckoned that we could get Suz to invite them over on Friday for a mutual birthday celebration. Perfect! This was the last piece we needed to keep the surprise a surprise. So Suz and Deanne made their plans and everything else fell in place.
Instead of our usual movie night, we played a game with the kids and put them to bed earlier. Ryan and Deanne came over around 7:45 and the other guests were instructed to arrive at 8:00. As friends began appearing on our porch, Suzanne had no clue what was happening. Mission accomplished: she was surprised. In a good way. She even said it was the best 40th birthday party ever.
Many thanks to Deanne, Ryan, Shannon, Rob, Chantell, Eric, Rachel, Natalie, and Bethany for being available, bringing food, and being our friends. Thanks for making Suz feel loved. And happy birthday to you, wife. You are loved indeed.
It was a GREAT night for a GREAT lady!
Glad to have you as my friend. Glad you turned 40 first. I remember you were at my 30th birthday…wasn’t that just last year?