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Unsurprise Surprise Birthday Party by Carol Wells

The merry month of May is when Carol's life odometer ticks over another yearly notch. Here is a story of the time one of her children wanted to make "Mom's birthday" extra special - but slight problems with the plan kept surfacing and helping to bring humor to the day instead!

My birthday is in May. This year I will be [Edit.] years old.

One problem in the past, about my birth date, is that I was born in the latter part of May. December children compete with Christmas or New Year's Eve. I, due to living in Indiana most of my life, competed with the Indy 500. Yes - sad but true - but one year during my first marriage my then-husband decided Carburation Thursday the more important once-a-year event versus my birthday.

Another year my birthday fell on race day itself. Coincidence? I suspect the race officials did it on purpose so people could Indianapolis 500 trivia by commenting I just turned the same number in years as there were cars lined up for the race. Instead of hearing "Happy Birthday" - I listened to "Back Home Again In Indiana" then a few hours of bro-rum sounds of race cars everywhere one went as all the Indianapolis area radio stations broadcast the race.

I suppose I protested a bit much about the race's dominance because the following year my second daughter, when around 8 in age, decided my birthday that year was going to be different!

She had it all planned out down to the last detail. Well, almost down to the last detail.

Drawing up a guest list meant people had to be invited. My other daughters volunteered to be a part of this grand plan and rushed out of the house to deliver the oral invites.

Since we lived in a small town that did not have a bakery this presented a slight problem in providing a birthday cake. My mother donated four dollars toward a box of cake mix and can of frosting from the Mom & Pop convenience store.

"Don't come into the kitchen," my daughter instructed with a stern look before sounds of eggs cracking and measuring commenced. Yes, I could hear the measuring as she held up a measuring cup for confirmation, "Grandma, is this half a cup?"

"Act surprised," my mother whispered. "She wants to do something special for you."

It is a good thing my mother warned me because, a few minutes later, I had to place the cake pan into the oven for my daughter. Then 25 minutes later I needed to remove the same cake pan from the oven while pretending not to know what I was doing.

Couple of children from the neighborhood came to the front door. "Hey Mrs. Wells," the oldest of the two grinned when I went to the door. She shook her head when I started to open the door. "I don't need to come in, I just forgot something."

"Oh? What," I asked thinking perhaps she meant a toy or something.

"The time."

"Time," I asked curiously.

"Yeah," the younger of the two said, "what time to be here for cake and ice cream!"

Yes, my second daughter apparently forgot to tell her sisters it was a surprise party therefore I was not to know. "I don't know," I honestly replied, "hold on." I went into the kitchen to tell my daughter, who by now had finished icing the cake, that a couple of her friends were at the door and wanted to talk to her about something.

"What they say to you," she asked when returning.

"Nothing," I fibbed while hoping my facial expression remained straight. "They came to the door and I figured, since you were the only one home, they wanted to see you. Could you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"We are out of ice cream. Could you go to Mom & Pop's and get some for later," I asked while handing her some money. Shock first crept across her face; you could almost the gears in her head saying, "How could I forgotten the ice cream!" It was just for a few seconds then relief washed over her face that my "casual request" was actually helping her plans.

An hour later was apparently the magic time as the Grand Schemer suggested I go to sit outside at the patio table. My mother winked as I commented that this was a great idea.

A few minutes later, my second born child smilingly carried out the cake on a plate while leading the way to where I sat. Her sisters, who were carrying plates, forks, and the ice cream, close on her heels with the neighborhood children not far behind singing Happy Birthday. "It's a surprise party for you! Are you surprised, Mom," she asked while setting the cake onto the table.

I looked at her broad yet proud smile, the children grouped around her, my other daughters, then at the lopsided-frosted cake. "Yes, sweets, you caught me totally off-guard," I replied truthfully while wiping a tear from my eye.

Humorous Book Recommendations:             [ view all ]
We Thought You Would Be Prettier : True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive
[Laurie Notaro; 240 pages]
None of us are perfect and Laurie writes about her imperfections - but in a way that can make one laugh out loud. The imperfect and less-than-graceful ones amongst us - can you relate?

Inside every seventy year-old is a thirty-five year old asking, "What happened?"
-- Ann Landers

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