Surprise Party, for Me?

I think not.

It doesn't work for me. I can't be surprised for a party. I don't think I ever was surprised! I can list a few times of when there was an attempt for one and it almost went through but never fully gone through.

My shower. I used to hang out by my friends house all the time. She lived around the corner from college and I used to park near her, and park myself on her couch between classes or when class was canceled and I had time to shmooze with her. She was planning my surprise shower and never let on about it. But I found out. I called her one night to see if I could come over, knowing she was busy wrapping gifts. She said yes. Then quickly changed her mind, and I asked her why not. She couldn't go into details, otherwise she would spill the beans. I told her don't worry, I will help you wrap. She started laughing. She thought it was funny that I knew and no one else. Everyone thought it was a surprise....She again almost said yes, but said no, because the others wouldn't like that. My secret on how I knew. The best part, I told my mom that night I was going out with my sister. She was getting nervous that I was not leaving the house, as she was to leave after me. It was funny. I went to get my sister and then she needed to be dropped off in Flatbush. I told her don't worry, just show up to my shower, I will show up soon after her and then she can leave the shower. She realized I knew. No one else knew. All the participants thought it was a surprise. It was not.

Another party was in a Chinese restaurant. My friend picked me up and drove me there. I, being me, checked the cars in the neighborhood and noticed a few but said nothing to my friend. She was trying. She even knew which place to take me to. Took her time to cash at the bank and soon we were there on time. I already had my suspicions, but kept quiet, not nice to tell your friend you know the secret. They worked so hard on the surprise aspect. Something was up. We walked into the place and the host there was ready to seat us. He then asked if we wanted to hang up our coats, and I said no, he then proceeded to say that everyone else hung up their coats. BING! There went that surprise. I walked to our tables and lo and behold a lot of people were there. A surprise? For them, they thought so. For me, I figured!

Oh, let's not forget the present. So at this party I noticed who was there and who was not. I noticed a pile of gifts :-) yay, I love gifts. I saw this huge box wrapped right at the front. Everyone was curious as to what was inside and pushed me to open it. Mind you I JUST go to the party and barely had time to say hello to everyone! I tried being nice and saying "you will have to wait until later" I mean who opens a gift right away? But the pressure was so strong I actually had help opening it up. I was always taught NOT to rip the paper, but this time was told to rip it. Right then and there and before that as well, I knew something was up or should I say down, and I played along with everyone. I carefully opened the huge box, and everyone shrieked. I smiled and let out a small shriek with everyone else. It was a great surprise but not a real surprise for me. Granted I knew nothing about it, but a lot of things didn't add up and I figured it out before everyone else. Oh, you want to know what was inside of the box? A good friend of the family was inside with balloons. First came out the balloons, and then he jumped out fully clothed! That was why everyone was pressuring me to open it up already. He was in there for some time already and I was late...

Another party I had at my house. I went to my friend after school to study. She gave me this whole story on how she might have to leave early because she has to go to this important bes din meeting, and it was whenever they called she needed to go. So towards the end, about 15 minutes before I was to leave, she got the call and left. I was left there waiting for my ride to come pick me up. I waited and was thinking about things. When I left I had my suspicions, and when we neared my house I checked out the cars on the block. I looked at the house and noticed the shades moving by someone who does not belong. I played along with everyone as usual, why say you knew when they think you didn't?

This is a good one. I was living in Providence already. I decided that that Sunday I was going to get out of the house early and do things. My husband didn't believe me. He said if I was ready to leave, he would go. So, when he came home from Shacharis and learning, I was already dressed and ready to go (pre-kids). He was not. He was stalling. I was getting mad and then it dawned on me. The conversation he just had on the phone was now making sense to me. My mom was coming up for a surprise visit and I was not supposed to know. I ruined it by being ready on time the day I am not supposed to go very far. We were supposed to go to Massachusetts. I finally told my husband to just go out local and told him what was going on. We played along by not telling my mom that I knew. We couldn't do it to them.

Any other parties? Usually not. My friend on the other hand you can make surprise parties for her doing the same thing, and she doesn't know at all until you actually tell her this is her party. It is funny.

Oh, when I was younger, we used to have these neighborhood get-togethers. It was really nice. Every week we the three or four families would rotate hosting the Friday nights. The parents would sit at the table and the girls would shmooze. Hey come to think of it, there were only girls who were home at that time. It was really great, we used to throw in birthday parties as well. I didn't want to go one time because I was tired, I went to read and relax, when my friends came to drag me out of the house to the party. Oops, didn't mean to ruin that one.

I just remembered. I did have a SURPRISE party. In August the doorbell rang at midnight. My mother asked who it was, and the response was "fed ex". My mother was very confused but while walking to open the door she realized what it was. I was not paying attention, until my neighbors showed up with balloons and cake and wished me a HALF Birthday. Now that takes the cake! Who would go through this effort to make a surprise half birthday?

For one thing, I was surprised, I was not thinking of my half birthday. I guess they realized I wasn't surprised by the other surprises. The neighbors assumed my mother was going to either leave the door unlocked or open it up without asking that she took them off guard by asking who was there. It was funny and lots of fun. Bet you never had a half birthday party!

So my birthday is coming up. My friends are NOT making me a surprise party. Too hard to surprise me and when my high-school friends do not live here it is hard to surprise me by showing up here...But there will be a party for me! Yay. I am excited, I like parties. There will actually be two. The first one is with the same girls we got together with when we took one out for her surprise birthday. Okay, not a real surprise, she knew she was going with a friend and expected me because another friend slipped. But was surprised when two other girls showed up. Then we decided to combine the next three birthdays together as they were only two weeks apart (meaning one full month from the first girl and the third girl, with one birthday in the middle) This party is not a real party, we will meet in the city and figure something out. The second party is where I live and a few friends are hosting it. It sounds great. But again, no surprise. Oh well. I should be happy they are doing this for me.