Bithday Bash

Sorry it's taking me so long to get to the birthday stuff (as if you care!). Let's see if I can knock out this post in less than 6 hours....

So my birthday was Thursday. And I had a pretty good day. My friend Cara took me to lunch at Rumbi where I had my most favoritest blackened Mahi Mahi. YUM. And then the rest of the day was pretty standard kid/mom stuff. Lots of phone calls and birthday emails (thanks!). I had told Big Daddy that the only thing I wanted for my birthday was to not plan anything. Usually if we do anything for my birthday, I pick the itinerary, I call the babysitter, and if there's a party, I make food for it and clean the house. Usually, though, we just do birthday parties for his birthday. I think we've done at least 8 since we've been together since his birthday is Halloween and it lends itself to good parties. Anyway, Big Daddy told me that morning that he had something planned. We'd be leaving about 6pm and returning about 10pm. In my mind that was about perfect timing for dinner and a movie. So we fed the kids about 5, opened presents, and at 6 I got ready and we left. I hadn't asked him what we were doing because I like surprises. So I didn't ask any questions, even after we got going.

About half way to Salt Lake, Big Daddy got a call on his cell. It was an upset client. She was in charge of a symposium where they needed a manual printed and it was starting in half an hour. Where was the manual? The whole thing was going to be ruined. Big Daddy apologized and explained that he had thought it was tomorrow. But he had it with him in his brief case and could drop it off on the way to dinner. So we stopped at Noahs, where the symposium was supposed to be held. I asked if I should wait in the car or come up, and he said I might as well come up and meet his client, who he had told me all about. So up we went and as we walked up to the room the symposium was supposedly in (but which he had really rented himself), I could see one of his friends. It took me a second to figure out why he was there, and by then I was at the doorway. About 30 of my friends were there and yelled "Surprise!" I was shocked. The room was full of balloons, the tables were covered with food--CATERED FOOD, food I didn't have to cook myself! And from one of my favorite restaurants, Zupas--there was music playing...everything was perfect.

I was a little overwhelmed at this point. Ok, a lot. Every time I turned, there was another of my friends, people I would never have expected Big Daddy to have contacted. How he found all their phone numbers and emails, I'll never know (but I thank all of you who helped him!) Pretty much every friend I have within a 50 mile radius of us was there. It made me totally emotional! I have to admit, I shed a few tears. And honestly, if I hadn't been in a room crowded full of people, I would have sat down on the floor and bawled. No lie. I was so overcome with love and appreciation for my darling, dear, wonderful husband that he would go to so much trouble, and for all my friends that would come.

But there's more. On the pool table in the room were little black boxes, like the kind chinese food comes in, but tiny. Inside each was either candy or a ticket to win prizes that Big Daddy had got. Car washes, cash, hats, t-shirts, and other cute things. There was German chocolate cake from Magleby's, my favorite cake (which he can't even eat because of the nuts), and he had gotten two of them for me and my guests. There was Wii Rock Band on the big screen TV. There were delicious soup and sandwiches and bottled Cokes. And then, after we'd all eaten and rocked out, there was the pièce de résistance, the t-shirts. If you don't know, my husband is a graphic designer extraordinaire and works for a printer. So when he wanted to make something comemmorative for my birthday, he designed a beautiful logo that represented my life and had it printed on t-shirts, one for everyone. He even got sizes ordered ahead of time! (I can't even imagine how much he spent on all this stuff!) Here's what the t-shirts looked like...




It's a picture of an Indian goddess, Kali. Although she's the goddess of destruction, she's also the goddess of change and time. So since I used to live in India, teach Indian mythology, and turned super old, it was a fitting picture. Then on the arch over Kali's head are archetectural features from all the places I've lived: The Detroit skyline 1974-92, The Ulmer Munster (cathedral from Ulm, Germany)1990-91, The Taj Mahal - 1994, the Coronado Bridge in San Diego - 1995-96, and a Fijian Burre - 1999. Then there's the 35 on her belly (to represent my age in 10 years my actual age. And finally, there's the image of the stained glass above our front door that has the address of our current house. It's amazing.


So what more can I say? It absolutely blew me away. So I'll just leave a few words for my sweet husband here:

Honey, you are the most wondeful, talented, generous, giving, thoughful man EVER! It was the birthday party of a lifetime. Not just the party, everything. The gifts, the card, the thought that went into it, the weekend getaway....everything. You are the best and I am SO GLAD that I married you!

And to everyone else who helped put that evening together, thank you. If you hadn't helped, it never would have worked. And thanks for those who came. Your friendship means everything to me. (p.s. If anyone took pictures, would you email me copies? thanks!)

I only have one more question....how is he going to top this for when I turn 40!?!