Birthday Surprise

Continuing on with experiences I’ve had for which I am grateful:
This year I turned 35. I love hosting parties and was all set to host a small celebration for myself with my favorite people around here when I turned the calendar and found “Alecia’s Birthday Bash brought to you by your man” written from a Friday over into the Saturday rectangle the weekend following my birthday. I was pleasantly surprised and figured he was planning the party for me, which was very thoughtful of him. My friends and I celebrate every birthday with a lunch out or girls night in and so when no one asked me what I wanted to do or when I wanted to celebrate, I figured they were all in on the party idea with my husband.
On my actual birthday I had a lovely day at the local little river beach with my friends and children. I had a quiet afternoon talking with my sisters and parents and some long-distance friends, then my husband brought home a delicious dinner and ice cream cake and I opened very thoughtful gifts from my family. It was a wonderful birthday; one of the best I’ve had in awhile and I was happy and feeling very loved, though still curious as to what more could possibly be planned for that mysterious weekend.
The fateful Friday arrived and the only hint I’d been given was that it would be a good idea to make sure my legs were shaved. I couldn’t imagine what was up his sleeve since we were going away the following weekend and I didn’t think he would plan another trip just the weekend before. I assumed we were going out on a fun date with a party the next day. When he got home from work I was anxiously waiting for him to tell me what we were doing. Instead he took my kids upstairs for 20 minutes and when they came down my daughter was crying. We sat around a bit longer, my frustration growing that he wasn’t saying what was going on, when suddenly I heard a bunch of honking.
I went to the front window and saw a huge white van with writing all over the windows, though I didn’t process what they said. My husband told me to go check it out so seriously confused, I went outside to find six of my friends getting out of the van and wishing me a happy birthday. They told me they were kidnapping me and taking me to Virginia Beach for the weekend. I could not have been more shocked. How in the world a whole weekend trip got planned without me being involved or having any knowledge of it is still amazing to me! I said I needed to pack but my husband already had so my son handed me my bag, I gave my husband and  sad daughter a hug and hopped in the van. On the windows it said “Honk for the Birthday Girl”, “Alecia’s Birthday Bash”, and “Virginia Beach or Bust”.

We drove the few hours to Virginia Beach chatting away and all of them being so happy that they had actually surprised me, which was an understatement. I was floored. Blown away. Knock me over with a feather I’m so shocked that they would do something so crazy and wonderful and sweet for me. We got to the hotel, ate snacks and watched late-night TV while talking, got some sleep and headed the next morning to the ocean! The beach is my very favorite place to be. It was a beautiful day with tons of waves and I spent almost the entire day swimming. Without any responsibility I just got to play with my friends at the beach and it was fabulous. We snacked, talked, swam, shared heartbreaks, laughed, did cartwheels on the sand, got knocked over by waves, and soaked up the beauty of the day. Then we rinsed off and changed, went to my favorite restaurant for dinner and headed home. It was perfect.

It was an incredible sacrifice for these good friends of mine financially and especially with their time to arrange being away from our 21 children. Two of them had to bring their nursing babies, which was not easy for them, and one was rather pregnant. They had planned for months to make this happen, spent hours researching hotels, they prepared and brought food and beach equipment and did all they could to make it an incredibly special weekend and one birthday I will never forget. Their selflessness, time, thoughtfulness, love and the appreciation they expressed to me was incredibly touching and will stay with me always.



Comments

  1. The AinasNovember 3, 2015 at 7:49 AM

    Awww! :) we love you! It was so fun! I want to do it again!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. matt and michelle rayNovember 3, 2015 at 4:37 PM

    No seriously, can we go back?! We had to do something extra special for the party planner of all party planners!

    ReplyDelete

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