Surprise!

Today is my birthday. I'm not a huge fan of birthdays, particularly my own, as I spoke about in a previous blog. I don't know what it is. My husband knows about my issues, we talk about them every year. He wants to do something big and fun for my birthday, and I would just like something small, just him and I and maybe one or two close friends or couples. I throw together some sort of small restaurant get together the day before and hope that maybe a few people can show up. People always do, my friends are amazing that way, but most of them would want to make a bigger deal out of my birthday than I would, so I won't let them. Even this year, I had a couple of specific rules for my husband; no family, only close friends, and nothing huge. I would have even been happy with just a nice expensive dinner, just the two of us.

He broke the rules slightly and planned a surprise party for me. It was so fun! My husband and I spent the whole day together on Saturday, and then that night we got all dressed up and had a nice dinner at a place down the road. He pretended he wasn't feeling well, so we decided to call it a night early and picked up a bottle of sparkling wine with the intention of having a nice romantic bath together. We get home, I unlock and open the door, and my best of friends (minus one or two who don't live here) were popping out of the dark corners of the room yelling "surprise!" I felt so loved.

Surprise! Some of the greatest lady friends!

They promptly placed a crown on my head and a necklace around my neck and started taking pictures. I looked around the room and saw banners and balloons that my best friend and her husband had put up while we were having dinner. My husband began to explain the details of the surprise and how he pulled it off. More friends arrived throughout the evening. We played cards (dutch blitz, my favourite) drank wine, ate Doritos, talked, listened to music and just spent time together. Those are the kinds of nights that I enjoy the most, the ones with little to no agenda where you can just talk and be together. I couldn't have asked for a better celebration.

I was so humbled. That all of these wonderful people would take time out of their busy weekend for me made me feel so valued. I had never felt so loved by my friends. The last of the party animals left around one in the morning. I went to sleep with a smile on my face. I'll never forget that night.

-SP