I have to admit I was a little bit stressed. Initially I had planned to throw Brian a surprise party and invite all of his friends and family... but between conferences, call days, and interviews this plan quickly fell through. I was a bit worried. How do you plan something special for someones 30th birthday in a town you know nothing about and a town without family and friends? I do love throwing parties and planning events but this one was a bit tricky and certainly new territory for me. I figured the best place to start would be a bottle of champagne after a long day of lectures.
If I had to pick one thing in life that Brian hates it would be "hassle". He loves to go on vacation but hates to "travel". He loves fishing but hates loading the boat, driving it to the lake, putting the boat in the water, and then realizing that we (usually I) forgot the bait. So I tried to come up with a hassle free evening. He loves steak and breweries so I tried to combine the two. But I really wanted to do something EXTRA special since he was leaving his late twenties behind and officially becoming a grown man. I figured no better way to celebrate and have a hassle free evening than by renting a limo!! We went outside to catch the hotel shuttle to the restaurant and a black stretch limo pulled up. I quickly walked over and yelled "SURPRISE"!! I'm pretty sure he was completely embarrassed because he quickly ushered me away from the limo telling me to stop making a scene and that I needed to just go get into the shuttle. In his defense this is something I would do even if the limo wasn't for his birthday but this time it just so happened to be. Haha... the surprise was a success!!
As most of you know Brian loves to give me a hard time. The definition of witty is combining clever conception and facetious expression. He's witty. You can imagine the things he came up with when he saw that I was going to a nice dinner in a birthday dress... with a backpack. You know it's pretty bad when Brian asks you why you aren't bringing "one of those little clutch things" instead of a backpack. Then he realized the backpack was actually filled with a growler of beer for the ride! I told him he just needed to have a little bit of faith in me... and my fashion sense!
Right before dinner we found out that Brian's good friend Greg was in town for a review course also. It was starting to turn in to a bit of a party!
Later in the evening we found out that Brian's best friend from his childhood/cousin was in town for an unexpected business trip... so we picked him up!
Things have a way of working themselves out. It certainly would have been great to get everyone together to celebrate. I wish that his family could have been there. But with all things considered it sure did turn out to be a pretty great night!
I did have one pretty big revelation this weekend-
We were sitting around in the hotel room talking while we were waiting to go to dinner and Brian got a text message from his mom listing the exact time Brian was born. It was at that moment when things sort of came into perspective. Thirty years ago they were rushing to the hospital probably wondering if they had thought of everything they needed. Thirty years ago they were praying constantly for a happy, healthy baby with a safe delivery. Thirty years ago at that very minute his Mom and Dad were looking at their baby boy for the first time! Thirty years ago their lives changed forever! How proud they must be to have raised such an amazing man.
It was then that I realized that birthdays are pretty important to everyone. The next time your birthday rolls around remember to send a little celebration your parents way... because after all it's a pretty big day for them too and I'm sure wherever they are they're taking a few minutes out of the day to do a little celebrating.
To John and Pat- Thank you for raising such a loving, generous, witty, kind hearted, intelligent man. His friends thank you, his patients thank you, and I thank you!
To Brian- You should be pretty proud of yourself! You have reached some pretty amazing milestones by age thirty. I wish you the very best out of life and I hope the next thirty years are equally as fulfilling as the last. You deserve the very best! Always remember that you are loved by so many people!
And now... the number one Billboard song in 1981:
um you know i LOVE that song!!! great great song!!
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