Turn about is fair play

Februaries are busy months in our household, and a month when it's very difficult not to gain weight. First there's V-day, followed close on its heels by my birthday, then our anniversary (33 years and counting) and then, just out of the February frame, my husband's birthday on March 1.

As some readers may remember, my 60th last year was commemorated with a wonderful surprise party at a local Mexican eatery. And it wasn't the first time the devious spouse had pulled this. When I turned 50 (long before blogging days) he threw a surprise dinner for me at his mother's house, attended by out-of-town family and friends I hadn't seen for years.

I assured him after both parties that I'd never be able to pull off anything like that for him. For one thing, he's too clever and suspicious—much too hard to fool. And for another, I'm not a very good actor/dissembler/organizer.

But with the help of industrious in-laws and wonderful children, we were able to do it! Scheduled for a week early—only one of many little diversions—at the home of one of his sisters, Henry's surprise 60th celebration came off beautifully on Saturday. The picture above is of son and daughter keeping watch for our arrival at the party house, which caused a little anxiety all 'round, as we were about 15 minutes late! [Thanks very much to incredibly talented daughter-in-law for the pictures with this post. I was much too wiped out from keeping the secret and stressing over getting him to the party to have energy left for taking pictures!]

And here's the birthday boy, being really, really surprised! [flanked by super-hostess sister and myself]

Planning this party and carrying out the lead-up to it without giving anything away is one of the most stressful operations I've ever undertaken. Childbirth has nothing on it! [slight exaggeration] Having to make sure suspicious charges didn't show up on the cards he monitors, getting everyone on board with the "cover story" that would get him to the party house on time, worrying something I or someone else might say would plant a seed of suspicion, and, finally, not being able to do anything myself to help with preparations on the day—I'm getting too old for this!

Having such a wonderful group of friends and family on hand—some who came from far-flung locations to join us—was what really made the evening. But the food and entertainment was also first-rate. Food was mostly contributed by generous friends and family, but we did splurge on a professional super-cake. Here's a look at it, a personalized scene showing the aftermath of a fantasy boating mishap (note the name of the boat: here's a blog post that includes a picture of Henry in the same canoe! although at a different scale)
It tasted as wonderful as it looked! I have to plug the young artist who made this for us. See some other examples of her handiwork here.

And that wasn't all the talent on view. Our son showed off prodigious video editing and composition skills to create a "this is your life" video for his dad. Plus, he reminded me that I could embed it in the blog!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a memorable, fun, evening for us. And for helping keep the secret!