Honored, humbled, and completely hornswoggled

It has been said that the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. However, it has never been said about my sister and my girlfriend.

Even though I unknowingly threw many a monkey wrench in their plan, Laura and Lisa managed to pull off an incredible surprise birthday party for me last Friday evening.

As noted in my previous post, my 40th birthday was last Thursday, February 14th. Laura and I had planned a low-key evening celebrating at home. We grilled some steaks, had a few drinks, and played Guitar Hero until midnight - it was a blast!

Both of us had taken Friday off for a long weekend. My plan was to hit the gym in the morning, do a little freelance web work in the afternoon, then go out with my buddies, Jay and Jeff. Simple. Easy. Just the guys. (P.S. Laura said she was going to a happy hour with her friends.)

Jay came over around 3:30 p.m. and the good times began! We fired up the Xbox (I swear to God it has literally changed our lives - High Definition gaming - but more about that in another post), cracked open some cold ones, played games, had some munchies, and watched some videos from the good ol' days.

I called Jeff to check his status (since he had called earlier to say he would be running late) and he said he would just meet us out later. Cool. Okay.

Just before 7:00 p.m., Jay was getting the vibe to go out, so I pulled on a quick sweater and we headed out the door. He said he and Jeff wanted to have a few beers and play some games at Dave & Busters. Again, cool. Okay.

We pulled into Dave & Busters around 7:10 p.m. and walked in.

To screaming.

But wait. I should describe the environment. When you first enter the building, there is a glass wall with a path that curves to the left and right. To the left is the gaming area, and to the right is the bar/restaurant. The screaming crowd was coming from the elevated billiards area to the left and my initial thought was, "Hey, those people are having a great time" and then I glanced toward the bar.

Then I looked back to the left. Is that Laura? Is that Lisa? Is that Erin? Wait, are those screams for me?!?

Jay and I walked toward the familiar faces screaming and waving at us and it finally dawned on me - this is a surprise birthday party!! I think I was in shock, honestly. Nobody had ever done anything like this for me in my entire life.

I ascended the stairs and was greeted by Laura with a big hug and kiss. I looked around the room and saw familiar smiling faces and felt slightly overwhelmed and still a bit bewildered. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see my mom and dad (from Richmond, Virginia), and sister, Patti (from Ohio). "What are you doing here?", I asked while in shock and hugged my mom for (what felt like) many minutes.

It was during that hug that the moment hit me and I became a little emotional. These people were here for me. Me. Wow! WOW! This is a surprise birthday party and I was completely caught by surprise! Bamboozled! Hornswoggled! Eeek!

I was sincerely honored and humbled that people would rearrange their personal lives to attend an event celebrating my birthday. And some of these people drove over an hour to be there, some flew across country, some just gave birth a week ago. Life is busy and we all have things to do - and for these people to stop and take time to spend with me to celebrate my birthday - well, it was just special, and really meant the world to me.

As it turns out, Lisa and Laura had been planning this party for months. Are you kidding me?!? And since the party, Laura has told me all the wrinkles I unintentionally created for them in the process. Too many to go into here, suffice to say it's really funny to look back on and compare notes.

I am so appreciative of everyone that attended - and for those that couldn't make it, I completely understand how life's commitments get in the way, so don't sweat it. I'm am truly thankful that every single one of you are a part of my life.