Me On Monday

It was the weekend of the surprise party:

which means that all the best bits of last week had been filled with many text messages, lots of planning, and a towering stack of secrets.

It all started with a text to me from the birthday girl's friend. We're thinking about a surprise party! It said. Could we? Should we? Would you? 

Yes! we said. Definitely! 

We baked a cake. Her friends did everything else. Oh, no, wait: apart from the tidying up. I did that, achieving, you'll be pleased to hear, a subtle balance of making enough room for many teenagers, and drawing no attention to my activities at all. By Saturday we were ready to fly.

Amy came round at lunchtime and took the Birthday Girl to Starbucks; and while she was sipping her coffee, she managed a Coast Is Clear message to the others. They began to arrive on our doorstep, bearing banners and balloons, party food, gifts. music..it was a lot like that scene at the start of The Hobbit in which everyone piles into Bilbo's house one after the other. Except these girls are beautiful, nearly grown, so maybe not really like that at all? 

They transformed our kitchen. They did more texting. And then they waited for Amy to persuade the girl of the moment that it was time to go home. More texting.

Can you come and get us now please Dad?

And we went. We brought her home and we stood behind as she opened the door and at last saw all of her friends gathered together in one place, away from their studying for a few hours, just for her. It was one of the best parties I've ever been to. They cheered her, they cheered themselves, they cheered us..and at that point we promised to order some pizzas for later and we left them to it.

It was the best of weekends. And me on Monday? That tidying is about to start all over again:

We're adrift on a sea of straggler balloons. Seventy of them, I'm told. Somebody counted.

Have a great week!

Last week Ruth, Helena, Eileen, Fiona, Rinda, Barbara, Jane, Deb, Gail, Sheena and Mardi all gave us a wave and a glimpse into how they were facing up to Monday. Go on, wish them a good one!