The Surprise Birthday Party that Almost Wasn’t

Surprise Birthday Party

Surprise, it was; just not in the way that I planned.

Greg, my husband’s birthday approached. Clueless as to what to do to make the day great for him, I decided to plan a surprise. What better way to take his mind off of heavy life stuff than involve his work crew and plan a surprise meal.

Great idea, right?

Of course!

The boys all agreed to try it. The work crew also got on board. Those guys really gushed out their excitement with one word answers.

“OK.”

“Yep.”

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“Yes.”

“Roger.”

Try to hold back, Guys!

The plan was simple. Get the crew to finish work early-ish and meet at a local restaurant. I enlisted help with that, the crew also agreed to work hard to get done and play their part. And they did.

Surprise birthday party!

The problem involved the surprise. Greg is easy to surprise, because he just doesn’t suspect things, nor does he think outside of the box of daily life.

However…Greg likes to keep a move on when working. Apparently, that day, he got on a roll. And just kept rolling.

Too much of a good thing

The customer noted the talented crew, working their tails off, and he got inspired. “Hey, they work fast! Let’s add more to this job!”

The crew had no choice but to keep busting their tails. They knocked out the extra job with time to spare. Herein turned out to be their folly. Because that man decided to throw in another tree or two!

On a roll!

Greg felt like he was on a roll! A great, hard-working crew, all in sync and operating as well as ever! He felt a good kind of pride in his guys, the customer was happy, and life was good.

Also…he lost his phone.

So, all of the little hint texts that I sent throughout the day, the calls and texts that his office man kept attempting–all of these went unread and unanswered.

Trickle down effect

Reservations got bumped, we re-evaluated, and did it again.

I called Andrew, who was working on the crew. “The customer just keeps adding work, and Dad just keeps taking it!”

Surprise was on me!

I’d say an hour and a half, during which I made multiple phone calls, texts, and reevaluations, I got word that the crew was headed towards the yard where they park trucks.

Great! All I had to do was to meet Greg.

Problem: he had not answered any of my texts about meeting to eat. Hmm…

I consulted Andrew. He, and the other crew, headed toward the meeting place.

Making contact

Next, I called Greg, fully expecting him to be at the yard. Every other day in the history of mankind, has witnessed Greg loitering for a good hour at the yard after work. Sometimes longer.

This day, however…

“Hello.”

“Hi. Happy Birthday!’

“Yeah, I think you may have mentioned that a few times.” (And I had, via multiple texts)

“Where are you?”

“On my way home.”

“What? Where are you exactly?”

“Halfway home.”

Greg had not read his texts, and strangely left early for home.

I directed him to his dinner invitation, and when he asked did I want him to turn around, I was like, “Yes, I’ve been waiting. I’m so hungry!” All true.

What a Surprise birthday party!

Boy, oh boy, what a mess! At least it gave time for the workers to arrive!

I thought for sure that by the time Greg drove up with that little smirk on his face, that he’d caught on. He said no later on.

Greg only began to suspect something when he caught the reflection in the store window of me waving our boys inside. Oh, well!

We tried, and did our best!

The dinner, both in food and conversation, was a success, even with the failed surprise birthday party.

Comedy of Errors

I chalk it up to a comedy of errors. No big deal! All’s well that ends well, and all that.

Next time, if I want to surprise my husband, I think I’ll just get him a puppy. 🐶