Surprise!!!!!!!

Last Thursday marked the momentous 33rd birthday for my darling fiance. I gave him a few small gifts to throw him off from the idea that I might possibly have something bigger coming... but luckily he didn't have a CLUE. And being the skeptic I am, I was sure he had caught on. He is a lot smarter than he looks! ;)

On Saturday, when I finally managed to get him out of the house to run his errands, my father met me at Best Buy to help transport David's dream come true... a 42" plasma HDTV. I managed to get all my shopping and running around done in time to prepare baskets of chips and pretzels, displays of cheese, crackers, and veggies, only to throw them in random cabinets to hide them from his sight. (and as I realized the next day when reaching for my breakfast cereal, I forgot about some of them! Oops!)

About 10 of his friends had arrived by 4:30, and as I stepped outside to help direct traffic, I panicked when I saw his Tiburon parked outside and him standing there, talking to my parents!!!! Shit!!!!!

And then here comes Trapper and Tasha, hauling a case of beer. And Shane, Dave's brother Rob, and Rob's friend John were due to walk up to the house any second... So I'm thinking, Goddamn it, the surprise is ruined. But Dave really just looked more confused than surprised. I led him into the house, and it was only after a few emphatic directional nods of my head that he noticed the gigantic television sitting in the corner. Before he could get too mesmerized, I insisted that he follow me to the basement, where we recently had a less-than-pleasant encounter with a less-than-pleasant tarantula-sized spider (ok fine maybe it wasn't THAT big, but nonetheless... I needed him to accompany me to the basement!). As soon as we got downstairs, I flicked on the light and an assortment of his friends stood there, not yelling "Surprise," but screaming, "DAT! DAT! DAT!" It was quite amusing.

So the surprise went over well, despite the fact that it wasn't as flawlessly orchestrated as I'd hoped. Moral of the story: don't rely on Jason Jones to keep Dave occupied next time you have a surprise party planned!

The most exciting moment of the evening, save for the TV unveiling, was Dave seeing his friend Jim "Freak Boy" Munster from college. Jim and Tammy drove down from Pottsville, and Dave had not seen them in over 5 years. They were not there in time for the surprise, and foolishly, I told Dave they were coming. (He did not believe me at first) I should have just let them show up and shock the hell out of him. But oh well, he was so excited to see them... it was just really fun to watch Dave sit back and enjoy the attention and affection he was receiving from his nearest and dearest. He's not a big people person, but I think having 20 of his closet friends gathered in his honor was very fun for him, and I enjoyed watching every second of it!

P.S. The above pic is of Dave, Freak Boy, and Diamond (Dave Weirick)