I love going back to Philadelphia, where I grew up. My best friends are still there, and I love being with the people that have known me the longest. So, when Mandy asked if I wanted to go get coffee with her, I said, “For sure.”
I even forgave her when she honked her horn at me as I was walking to her house and gave me a minor coronary.
The Surprise Party Set-Up
We had to stop and pick up her makeup first from her sister, Heather. We took a quick tour of her new house, and Heather invited me to Mandy’s party the next Tuesday. We then laughed at the milestone of Amanda turning 37 and how appropriate it was for a party.
Later, my friend Marcie and I were talking, and she asked if I was going to Mandy’s party. She sounded like it was a surprise, and even though I knew Mandy knew about it — she was standing next to me when Heather invited me — I figured I’d just let Marcie think it was a surprise.
You have to understand the culture I grew up in. Everything is a surprise, but nothing is truly a surprise. So, I figured everyone was planning a surprise, but Mandy already knew. In a culture where everything is a surprise, someone knowing about their own surprise party is quite common.
Almost Ruining the Birthday Surprise
Tuesday, Emaline had her yearly appointment with the stroke clinic at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Afterward, my dad brought all the other kids and met us at Reading Terminal Market for a late lunch.
On the way home on the train, Mandy sent a text that said, “Do you girls want to go to Heather’s with me to set up for the party?” I thought she might have meant “your girls,” but I also know Mandy is quite adept at editing on her iPhone (sidenote, did you know you can edit your messages in iMessage? I did not until I watched her edit in real-time. Great feature).
I figured, “Why not.” We walked home from the train, and she was sitting out front in her van. The girls hopped in, and so did I. We sat there just a tad longer than what would be considered normal before taking off.
Mandy’s Emma was in the front seat, and she said, “Should I move to the back.”
And then it hit me: If Mandy were expecting me to come, she would have had Emma sit in the back. Obviously, she wasn’t planning for me.
So I said, “Oh, you just meant the girls!!”
And Mandy said, “Oh no, it’s fine. It’s just that I have to make mac and cheese. So I was going to drop the girls off to play with Heather’s boys because they’re getting tired of playing with my kids. So I was just going to drop them off and return to make mac and cheese.”
I said, “Mandy, you don’t have time to do that!” There were 45 minutes before the party started! She assured me she was “very fast at making mac and cheese.”
It didn’t seem weird to me that she would make mac and cheese for her own birthday party, considering I had cooked a Chipotle copycat meal for my birthday party.
She said I could drive with her, but I have some social awareness, so I said, “Oh no, it’s fine! I have things I can do here.” So I got out, and they drove away.
The Shock of My Life
Rick and I and the rest of the fam bam pulled into Heather’s driveway a little late on Tuesday. I had my carefully curated gift for Mandy.
I step in the door, and everyone yells, “Surprise!” And I was so confused. They know I’m not Mandy. I mean, she’s like half my size, and she was already there…I saw her car. So then I thought, “Oh, they’re making fun of me for being late.”
Then I started to notice the 40th birthday decor. It was a true surprise. Not one single time did I have an inkling of a suspicion.
And the waterworks started. I felt ridiculously loved. And when I feel like that, I cry.
Marcie was the mastermind behind the party. She asked everyone to share a memory and pictures, and then she put them into a scrapbook. I enjoyed reading through that scrapbook and reminiscing over my wonderful life filled with the best people.
Whose party is it anyway?
I thought I was going to Amanda’s party. Meanwhile, Rick’s birthday was the next day.
No one had tipped him off about this birthday party for me, and he thought it was strange they’d be throwing a 44th birthday party for him, but hey, it WAS his birthday, after all. Queue confusion! Then he noticed the 40th birthday décor.
It felt like a long time to figure it all out, but we finally realized it was my surprise 40th birthday party.
Birthday Party Fare
The food was hoagies from Chubby’s Deli (my top favorite) that my parents provided and salads and desserts that people brought. Marcie picked up cupcakes from Sam’s and specified that she did not want black icing.
They had black icing.
That made for some pretty fantastic stories from the moms of kids in diapers over the next few days. Turquoise/deep blue — apparently, that’s the color the body doesn’t absorb.
Anyway, back to the party. I smiled so much my face hurt. There was a massive balloon swag, which was my dream come true. Mandy should consider going into balloon swag creation full-time.
Honesty in Dishonest Times
The funniest thing of the whole night was how I tried to ruin the surprise by jumping in with Mandy. Somehow she played it off so coolly; I never suspected anything. But she said she was panicking. She had no intention of making mac and cheese, but she’s not a liar!
So, she asked Nick, her husband, to boil some noodles and bring them to Heather’s when he came so she could make mac and cheese.
It turned out Heather already had tons of mac and cheese, so now there’s just a pound of cooked elbow noodles sitting around that have probably gone to waste so that Mandy could be a truth-teller.
Dishonesty abounds when planning a surprise party. But that’s the kind of dishonesty that doesn’t sear the conscience, apparently! Saying you’re going to make mac and cheese and then not making it? That will make you lose sleep at night.
Looking back at the event, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and love for my lifelong friends and the fact that they’re still a major part of my life.
Despite a near-last-minute catastrophe, it turned out to be the biggest surprise of my life.
