Monday, August 21, 2017

Birthday Week

As my own children and the children I’ve taught know, I pride myself on knowing EVERYTHING! There are no secrets kept from me because of my superior ability to put two and two together and smell rats in the least obvious places.

So I am considering it the coup of the century that my husband and friends managed to pull off a birthday surprise heist at the weekend.

Geoff says I’ve been sooking that nothing was being planned for my big birthday – obviously sooking is too strong a word but I admit I was starting to feel a little unloved. I’d been rationalising the lack of planning to soothe myself- just got back from an amazing holiday, busy at work, one child not in the country, birthdays are just another number etc, etc… Given his track record of awesomeness at celebrations, I knew Geoff wouldn’t let me down but, you know, self doubt, old age; I was beginning to think maybe the magic was finally fading.

The almost last straw was his suggestion to Jaime that she pick up a cake from the cheesecake shop on Tuesday so we could blow some candles out after swimming. A cheesecake? Really? For my 60th birthday? All I had requested for my birthday was one of @icingonyourcake’s magnificent creations – and now, apparently, I was getting a last minute, don’t even ask me what flavour I want, probably will forget I need cream with it, store bought…..cheesecake!

One of my ‘best girls’ had organised to take me out for dinner at the pub on Saturday night as a pre birthday treat. Tired after a day at the footy and still harbouring some despondency over the cheesecake, I really didn’t feel like it but I was so grateful to Steph for at least making an effort that I committed to going, despite being in the same clothes I’d had on all day.

When Steph arrived to pick us up, Geoff staged the most ridiculous stalling tactics I have ever seen, and yet I still didn’t twig! I sat in the car and twiddled my thumbs while he waffled on about toothpaste accidents and needing to change his clothes.
When we got down the street they informed me we were going to Olivine instead of the pub. 
“Have you booked?” 
"Nope, we’ll be right, there’s just the 3 of us” 
“Well, that’s just silly, there’s lots of cars at Olivine and hardly any at the pub, why don’t we go there?”

It never occurred to me that I knew the owners of all those cars.
It never occurred to me that the function room was in darkness and yet there were people in there.
People waiting for me. Lovely friends and family, waiting for me in my dirty clothes, unbrushed hair and no make up. Wonderful conspirers the lot of them, dreaming up a birthday dinner, right under my nose! What a beautiful, warm fuzzy of loveliness.

And of course, there was cake. A magnificent, lindt ball covered creation complete with all things dear to me; books and my missing glasses, a goal shooter’s bib and little figurines of the twins and Theo.



I’ve never been so happy to have been lied to.

PS: I also got my cheesecake- served with a triple dose of love from my best boys. Completely spoilt and it's not even my birthday yet!


And tomorrow, I'll be elderly. Thoughts on that at a later date!