Surprise

I arrived to my "surprise" birthday party 2 hours early.
Oops
My sister-in-law planned a party for me ... just said that dinner was at 4. We always arrive at the family house a few hours early when they are in town visiting. That way the E's can play with their cousins that they don't see very often.
She was surprised (and a little pissed) when we arrived, but I'm glad that I missed the big "SURPRISE!!"... I don't think that I could have taken it. My emotions have been a bit on edge the last week. Stuntman leaving after R&R, my birthday, just everything, has been wearing on me... I would have totally lost it if I walked into a surprise party.

The photo above is one of my cakes.
I had a phone call from my best friend's father yesterday. He lives in MN (AZ in the winter). He told me to go to my local bakery today and pick up something. It was the cake.
24 years ago, I lived with my best friend and her family when we were in high school. Her father had his 40th birthday. We made a giant banner and put it on the big barn by the road. The banner said "Lordy, lordy, Donny's 40! HONK"
All day long, cars were honking as they drove by the farm. It wasn't until the end of the day that her father saw the banner. I can still see his face... and it wasn't smiling.
When I spoke to him yesterday, he said that he couldn't find a banner maker in my area, so he went with the cake. Through the the phone, I could hear his smile.

I'm enjoying my last few hours of being 39 by watching "True Lies" on TV... Stuntman and I always crack up at the line "but they were all bad"