She got me again!

Eight days after my 30th birthday, my family was getting together at our church building. We had a few folks in from out of town, and my wife's relatives were joining us, so having everyone at our little apartment behind my mother-in-law's house wasn't possible. As we drove up to the building, Nina said, "I need you to close your eyes, because I've got a little surprise for you." Good thing she was driving. I closed my eyes, like a good little husband, and she parked, and escorted me into our fellowship hall, where about 60 people shouted "Surprise!" She had invited a horde of friends to throw me a surprise party. People I worked with, people I had known for years from various places, lots of church folks... it was a wonderful time!

Yesterday, two days after my 40th birthday, we were driving to our church building. Nina was driving again -- I had a little bit of a headache. We were going (I had been led to believe) to a shared birthday get-together for me, our minister, and another guy at our church. We've been doing this for the past three or four years. As we got off the freeway, Nina said, "Okay, the deal is that you guys aren't supposed to see the decorations outside until you see the decorations inside, so could you close your eyes?"

WARNING! WARNING! --sirens going off in my head --flashing lights

Several little things from the past little while suddenly began to add up.

• Nina took the kids with her to run errands earlier in the day -- that's a dangerous thing, considering how squirrely they can be sometimes.
  
• She had kept me busy making cookies for the party, and working around the house.
  
• She got out the video of to 30th birthday party the other night, and we were all watching it. She commented, "It would be good to get together with all our friends again."
  
• She had been making phone calls behind closed doors.
  
• A letter had shown up at church a few weeks back, addressed to Nina, in an envelope from the church where Brandon Scott Thomas ministers. Thinking it had something to do with the ZOE worship conference, or some other event, I opened it to find a nice birthday wish from Brandon. I had told him at the Pepperdine Lectures that I was sneaking up on 40 years old, and I thought it was just a thoughtful note from a friend, who didn't know exactly when my birthday was. He and Nina both covered this one up pretty well.
  

So, once again, to a shout of, "SURPRISE!" I walked into a room filled with friends from all over, former coworkers, and family. Though I had just moments before realized that a surprise was imminent, seeing who was there was a great, fun surprise.

There was lots of teasing about how old I'm getting (especially from those who are older than me), great food from our favorite Italian restaurant, and the noise of conversation and laughter. It was great! The best gift was a binder with birthday wishes and notes from many of my friends (that's what the note from Brandon was for). Some were short and sweet, others were longer and very emotional, and some were just silly! It's the best gift I've ever received.

As I told the assembled throng yesterday, I expect that Nina will do this again for my 50th birthday, and my 60th... but I'll be on to her by the time I turn 70!