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I can keep a secret!
Aug. 28th, 2007 11:16 amA few months ago I decided I wanted to do something special for Rich’s 50th birthday. I knew a big surprise party, or any big party, wouldn’t be right. I decided on something smaller: in an amazing coincidence, two of his closest high school buddies are now living in Vermont, and a third is living just beyond the Vermont border in Massachusetts (since the HS was in NYC, this really is strange that they'd all live up here).
I got in touch with all 3, and we picked a weekend and agreed they would come here and surprise Rich. As it turned out, at the last minute the friend in Massachusetts had another commitment, so only Adrian and Tony could come.
How people planned these things and kept them a secret before cell phones and email I don’t know. I used my work email account, which Rich never sees. I ordered an ice cream cake and hid it at a neighbor’s. I couldn’t write about it here, in case Rich saw it. Sunday morning, my biggest challenge was making sure he didn’t go food shopping or start mowing the lawn. I managed to delay the lawn mowing – he was just about to start when Tony and Adrian drove up. He was totally surprised. It was awesome.
One of the reasons why this was so darn hard to plan is because just after selecting this weekend for this event, Caroline learned that her dance troupe was going to be performing one final time, at the Champlain Valley Fair. We knew it was going to be on Saturday; the problem was no one knew when.
But all worked out in the end. On Saturday we saw Caroline dance with Teen Jazz again. Eight of the 16 were there. It was on a small stage inside one of the buildings – the audience was at least 1/3 parents/friends of the dancers. They did a great job, and it was wonderful to watch them in this bonus performance. And I got to see rabbits, sheep, horses, midway rides, and eat greasy food.
One last thing -- on the way home from the fair, there was a strong thunderstorm happening. We saw lightening flashes around us; then we saw in the distance a bolt of lightening strike a tree -- there was a flash and a puff of smoke. It was the first time I'd ever seen lightning strike. It was sobering.
I got in touch with all 3, and we picked a weekend and agreed they would come here and surprise Rich. As it turned out, at the last minute the friend in Massachusetts had another commitment, so only Adrian and Tony could come.
How people planned these things and kept them a secret before cell phones and email I don’t know. I used my work email account, which Rich never sees. I ordered an ice cream cake and hid it at a neighbor’s. I couldn’t write about it here, in case Rich saw it. Sunday morning, my biggest challenge was making sure he didn’t go food shopping or start mowing the lawn. I managed to delay the lawn mowing – he was just about to start when Tony and Adrian drove up. He was totally surprised. It was awesome.
One of the reasons why this was so darn hard to plan is because just after selecting this weekend for this event, Caroline learned that her dance troupe was going to be performing one final time, at the Champlain Valley Fair. We knew it was going to be on Saturday; the problem was no one knew when.
But all worked out in the end. On Saturday we saw Caroline dance with Teen Jazz again. Eight of the 16 were there. It was on a small stage inside one of the buildings – the audience was at least 1/3 parents/friends of the dancers. They did a great job, and it was wonderful to watch them in this bonus performance. And I got to see rabbits, sheep, horses, midway rides, and eat greasy food.
One last thing -- on the way home from the fair, there was a strong thunderstorm happening. We saw lightening flashes around us; then we saw in the distance a bolt of lightening strike a tree -- there was a flash and a puff of smoke. It was the first time I'd ever seen lightning strike. It was sobering.
