Saturday, August 05, 2006

Woot! Happy (Belated) 30th Birthday To Me!!! I know I've been off the radar for a while - I'll try to make it up to all 3? 4? 5? of you who still read this thing.

My 30th birthday rocked. From my perspective, the birthday on Monday, July 31, started Friday, July 29, when Wife showed up at my office with a Hoody's Sub cheesesteak and Coke Slurpee for lunch. She deserved a thank-you post just for that (ya know, since these posts are worth so much in free publicity), as it was tasty and well-enjoyed. Little did I know wheels were turning.

The next day, we were heading to Reale's for lunch. I, being somewhat slovenly, had neglected to shave, so Wife spilled the beans: "We're meeting Craig and Brooke for a surprise Leo Birthday Lunch - now go get cleaned up!" Craig, Brooke, and I, along with currently-Ugandan missionaries Spencer and Emily, all have birthdays falling between July 24 and August 6 (speaking of which, Happy Birthday Spencer! if you read this), and being a prideful pride of Leos, have celebrated many years with a meal together. Well, Spencer and Emily won't be returning to America, much less Austin, until maybe 2008 (personally I think Spencer's waiting out OU's now-traditional "rebuilding years"), so the rest of us had decided not to wait. It appeared they'd connived with Wife to do it as a surprise for me. So I followed orders and cleaned up and we went to Reale's.

Brooke and Craig had just gotten there when we arrived, and I tried to act surprised although Wife had spilled said beans. When we went in, they didn't take us to a table - they just waved us towards a back room which, oddly, had blinds closed over the windows. Yep, this was just a layered deception (like an onion!) and about 30 of my friends had been pulled together by the more-devious-than-I-expected Wife for a surprise birthday lunch and bowling. The attendees represented my old high school classmates, college friends from my dorm and the business school, coworkers from 3 of my 5 post-college jobs, my old church, and family, including 3 out-of-towners (although they all live in Houston, where everyone tries to escape as much as possible). It should also be noted that the last time I was surprised was my high school graduation party (my parents rented out the entire Jeffrey's restaurant on a Sunday), when Craig was also the delivery mechanism. So an impressive confluence of the different parts of my life. And a little scary, but nothing scary happened. A great time was had by all (including Beth's ominous and more than a little unsettling Old Age Survival Kit - since she turned 30 last December, I assume she's needed all these things).

Most of the assembled folks joined us for bowling too. It was the worst of times (4 gutterballs in a row) and the best of times (followed immediately by an 8, 4 consecutive strikes, and a 9 to finish with 152), and cake was involved. :-) And I got to give Aggie Cousin Vaden the bowling name "Lost 6 In A Row". I've printed out that score and might frame it some time.

That wasn't the end (an excellent extended family party at the in-laws' Saturday night, dinner with my folks Sunday, and taking the day off work plus more Hoody's cheesesteak on Monday itself), but the party was one of the coolest things anyone's ever done for me. Thank you, Wife! And all my friends who keep a secret far better than I ever suspected.
posted by Unknown 11:37 PM | 2 comments