I Guess They're Not All Bad

When I turned 18, a very well-meaning acquaintance planned a surprise party for me. Firstly, I don't like surprises at the best of times. Secondly, my brother and his girlfriend-at-the-time had promised to take me out for fancy supper the same night and my Mom had just made me a new skirt and I was excited. Well we were getting ready to walk out the door and two of my school friends showed up. I tried to explain that I couldn't leave with them because I had supper plans. Alas, that was when the Restaurant Ruse fell apart. I changed my skirt and in their cruelty, my friends blindfolded me for the ride to the park where the party was happening.

The good news about the party was that I got a lot of nice presents and after the barbecue part was over, I went with a few of my closest school friends over to one of their houses to watch videos and hang out. The bad news is that said well-meaning acquaintance jumped on planning the party before my best friend got a chance to and ended up inviting a rather large number of people that I wasn't even really friends with, including some I hardly talked to at all. Also, a couple of friends had traveled from out of town to be there and I hardly got a chance to talk to them. Eventually, they felt so ignored by the party-planner and a few other people who were supposed to be their friends that they left...and I wished I could've gone with them.

Well, this time, my sneaky Mom fabricated a pretty fool-proof plan right under my nose! The weekend after we got here, we went out to my parents' place for five days (long weekend in Canada plus LJ's certification exam). My best friend, Chandra, and I had planned to go out for a coffee date on Saturday morning (to Starbucks! Sans toddler!). I had seen Mom peeling potatoes before I left but just assumed she was planning either to have company or that the five of us were going to eat some mass quantity of potato salad for lunch on Sunday. Apparently, as soon as I left, Mom put LJ to work peeling, slicing, and chopping up stuff for salads for Sunday evening.

On Sunday afternoon, Chandra invited me over basically to do nothing which sounded just fine with me. I got going late because I didn't hear my alarm go off after naptime and most of the time I was over at her place I was in a groggy nap-induced stupor. We DID go out for ice cream though and one very tasty, albeit regrettably large, milkshake.

I didn't end up putting two-and-two together very well until we both left Chandra's place (she was “supposedly” going over to her parents' for supper). Her parents live in the same end of town as mine but we both took a different way to get there. I was baffled when I saw her take a route that really didn't go anywhere near the right street and thought she must've been taking some weird scenic route. Then I got to my parents' street and there were cars everywhere. So on top of being late for supper, I had to park in the driveway. Argh! As I was getting out of the car, Chandra walks up the driveway asking for the jacket she forgot in the car the day before. The following conversation ensued:

B: Uh, I hung your jacket up in your front closet. You watched me hang it there and you even commented....
C: Oh, yeah, uh, duh. I just spazzed for a minute there. Oh hey, let's go in your front door.
B: (baffled because wasn't she supposed to be going somewhere for supper?) Uh, we never use our front door.
C: So? It's been ages since I've gone in that way.
B: Okay......so, why is your parent's car parked in front of my house?
C: What? Is that my parent's car? (squinting) I can't read the license plate. (As if you have it memorized, Chandra Anne.)
B: Hey, wait a minute....

And then it all started to make sense and sure enough, I walked in and heard that dread word: “SURPRISE!”

This time, though....good surprise! A few of my parent's friends were there (people that I know too) and my friend Kristin was out from Airport City (the Manitoba-version). Well all us 'girls' sat at the same table and ate all my Mom's tasty food (even though I was still horridly full from the milkshake) and I haven't laughed that much since Chandra's party in February. When she and Kristin get together, hilarity ensues.

So, it was a few days late but was just the right mix of people and food – thanks for the party, Mom! You redeemed the whole 'surprise party' ordeal for me.