The Final Birthday Blog

Home Tuesday with a sick and coughing Kate . . . bound to happen, considering that Meg had her battle with a cold last week. It seems like the days of sharing germs between the sisters has begun.

Wednesday I ran off to visit my parents . . . an impromptu voyage that ended up with everyone staying over night. Thursday back home, catching up with the work I should have done Wednesday.

But, alas . . . I have not yet finished the birthday story . . . so today's blog won't be about Kate or my parents, but about a now 30-yr old Jim.

Where was I? Oh yes, the birthday surprise was leaked . . . Jim knew of Will's trip to town . . . but we were all super excited about spending the weekend celebrating Jim's birthday.

Saturday morning came, and Jim had to rush off early in the morning for his WW meeting and -- blech -- work. Yes, on the day of his big event, Jim had to work. It was 'Bonus Day' at Power Plan . . . the one day of the year when the company holds it's annual meeting and distributes bonus checks. The meeting/check distribution was actually supposed to happen on Friday, but with all the consultants and their travel, it wasn't going to work. So, the owners of PP just decided that everyone would love to come to work on Saturday.

Who's gonna argue? They were holding our big bonus check in their hands as incentive to actually come to the meeting. Suffice to say . . . everyone -- every employee -- attended, even on a Saturday morning.

Back at home, we spent the day getting ready . . . exactly what we were getting ready for, Jim still wasn't exactly sure.

I had spent the past 2 weeks organizing a dinner party for us at a local restaurant -- Chicago's. 19 guests were to arrive at 8:00pm to enjoy a fun birthday dinner for Jim. I made menus, we bought wine, decorations . . . it was all going to be perfect. After dinner, everyone would make the 5 minute drive from the restaurant to our house for cake, ice cream, and a little Wii action.

And this is not going to be one of those "it should have been great BUT . . ." stories. It WAS great. The whole thing was awesome.

Jim's family and I were enjoying the excitement of the day. There was much to celebrate -- Jim's birthday, his dad's birthday (which is the same day as Jim's!), Will was coming, we'd all worked hard to get everything ready. And then we found out that Jim had gotten a smokin' bonus . . . it was a great day!

Jim came back home mid afternoon, and we continued to do little things in preparation. Jim still really didn't know what he was preparing for. I told him what to wear. Will and his family arrived. The babysitter came for the girls. And it was finally time to leave for dinner.

Jim thought we were going to a different restaurant . . . but when we arrived at Chicago's, I think he said, "Hey, look at this . . ." He was surprised at the location -- and I was just glad that at least a little of the surprise was actually left. And when we entered the restaurant, he was even more surprised to find our entire party waiting for him in the lobby.

"Surprise!" someone said.

We all greeted each other as we waited (far too long -- but that's another story) for our table to be ready. Everyone sat, everyone ate. The dinner was fantastic and fun, and I think Jim enjoyed every single minute. He was surprised that we'd put everything together . . . all he knew was that we were going somewhere for dinner.

As dinner was ending, I said to Jim, "Okay, let's go . . ."

"Is everyone coming to our house? Is that the plan?" he asked.

I laughed. A little more of the surprise was left than I had expected . . . I thought he'd figured it all out by that point. I did tell him that everyone was coming over to our house, and he was very excited.

The rest of the night was just as great as dinner. We sang Happy Birthday to Jim, had cake, then retired -- 17 of the 19 guests -- to the basement for the rest of the night. Lots of bowling and guitar hero action . . . which everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy. Jim's friends were very gracious with gifts, providing us with even MORE Wii games and accessories to make our night fun.

The entire event went off exactly as planned. Jim had a blast, which was the more important part of it all.

I was so excited that Jim was able to enjoy a weekend devoted to just HIM. He deserved it -- I wish we could do things like this for him more often. Jim's actual birthday was Sunday, and we woke up that morning and had a great breakfast with all of our company. We did a little shopping, then ended the day at Julie and Greg's for Jim and his dad's birthday dinner. With two extremely tired girls, we headed back home . . . . and I think Jim and I both took time in the car to think about what a perfectly fantastic weekend it had been.

So that's it . . . sorry for the long, drawn out description of Jim's birthday. I've been getting emails all week about what the surprise was, when I was going to post. I didn't mean for it to be so suspenseful!

Happy Birthday to you, Jim. Seems like we 'do it up' every 5 years (Jim's 25th was a BIG blow out, too) . . . so I'm already looking forward to celebrating your 35th :) I love you.

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