Shock and Awe

Roxanne and I have been married now for nearly 9 years. During the course of our marriage, I'll admit, I've set the bar pretty low as far as surprises, exciting gifts, loving poems (still zero to date), ... really anything having to do with spontaneity.

So with Roxanne's 30th birthday on the 28th I thought, with the help of friends Shari and Alysa, that we could really pull off a surprise "Shock and Awe" birthday party.

So we got the word out and planned the surprise at the Thatcher's home. With invites out "Shock and Awe" was to take place at 6pm. Shari took Roxanne out the day before to help Roxanne believe that all "friend credits" had been paid. I did my normal "pick up something the day before, wrap it like a 6 year old would, and write 'Happy Birthday' across the top present". (Roxanne wanted a belt sander - I know ... random ... you'd think I had her brainwashed).

I told Roxanne that I'd take her out to somewhere nice for her birthday for dinner. My parents were in town and we decided that we'd go to Ruth's Chris to celebrate. The plan was to create a reason to stop by the Thatcher's on the way and "Shock and Awe" would be complete. Roxanne had scheduled the babysitter for 5:30 ... too close for comfort ... we may have arrived too early ... so we had the babysitter call and tell her she had a "meeting" and that she couldn't be picked up until 6. Perfect. Mark called and created the reason to stop by telling Roxanne that there was a packet from work he needed me to pick up before we took off ... hook inserted.

One other concern arose ... this was my favorite lie. I was concerned that there might be cars in front of the house from guests that would create suspicion by Roxanne. I told her that Mark's neighbors, Jehovah's Witness, were having a baptism in their back yard in the pool and that a lot of people could be parked at the neighbor's home. Just sounded kind of funny (I really can't take credit for thinking it up ... Mark did).

So with all of the deceit firmly in place we were off for the show. Roxanne was completely surprised and we had a great time at the party. Thanks again to everyone that helped to pull it off.

At the party we played a game, "How well do you know Roxanne". People were able to learn things about Roxanne that most people didn't know - including our bishop who was in attendance. Like her favorite desert: Tiramisu (spelling?), that she loves ghetto R&B music, that she got in a fight on a basketball court in high school (great story by the way), and that she played hooky from seminary a lot (I know, not that unique, but kind of funny because Roxanne taught seminary for two years).

In the end, she never saw it coming ... 9 years of very little attention to details by yours truly will do that. Wait 'till she turns 50 ... now that will be a surprise.

--Chris

Roxanne's side of the story...
No, I wasn't expecting a feat like this. My husband doesn't give himself enough credit, I did have some expectations for my birthday. In fact, I did ask for the belt sander...not too weird since I asked for a compound miter saw for Christmas (I guess I never got the whole feminine thing down) and I really was hoping I'd get it. But as far as Chris creating an elaborate scheme to throw a surprise party for me was, no, not quite in my radar. I look back at all the little cover-ups involved in this stealthy action and still wouldn't have put two and two together. So my baby-sitter that I've scheduled a week in advance moves the time fro 5:30-6:00, no biggie. I just assumed, 'her meeting' was church related and didn't think anything of it. And as far as plans for that night. We decided to go to Ruth's Chris, and I, of course, was okay with that plan of action, until I heard the reservation voice on the other end of the phone say that the reservations weren't available until 8:30. Not going to happen. So we loaded into the car, Brad, Elaine, Chris and I, and I just told Chris I wasn't in the mood for anything specific so we'd just find something..No big deal.
When we stopped off at the Thatchers...there weren't any cars anywhere. Still no clue. And knowing that Mark and Shari wanted to meet my in-laws, and that my in-laws wanted to meet Mark and Shari, I didn't think it odd that they got out of the car to the Thatcher's front door with me. And even when I entered their house and saw a few balloons on the ceiling, my first thought was, "Oh, that Shari, she's such a fun mom, doing fun things for her kids!" Still, no clue.
And then I saw Mark standing along a back wall, then Alysa, Denice, and a room full of people, even a balloon with a picture of me on it... I couldn't believe it!
Chris had pulled off a great surprise 30th birthday pah-tay for me and I didn't have a clue.

I've heard of some people having a hard time with turning 30, for me it was fantastic! I went home and just couldn't believe my husband and friends did this!

I'm shocked that Chris and my friends pulled it off and I'm awed at how wonderful they are! Thank you to everyone that came and helped with the surprise! And by-the-way Shari, the sushi and burritos were fantastic! And yes, everyone else, I am that random!

PS If anyone else has pictures, send them over....as it was a surprise I didn't bring my camera!