Tuesday, March 10, 2009

50 YEARS IN THE MAKING

Bobby's brother Paul is going to be 50 on March 12th so Bobby
had this brainy idea to throw him a surprise party. Well guess
who got the pleasure of putting it all together and getting all
his family together in a weeks time? You guessed it. I had to
get everything organized and you know Bobby will take the
credit for it ha. Bobby's moms birthday was March 9th so
we wanted to honor her as well but make it more for his brother.
Bobby has quite a large family and it wasn't easy getting it
all put together. First I had to decide if I wanted to squeeze
17 people (which that isn't everyone in his large family) into
my tiny house. Bobby & I live in his grandparents home which
is over 50 years old and isn't designed big enough for todays
modern furniture and back in the day when we were younger
and his grandparents were alive and living here we did fit
more than 17 in here and I still can't figure that out but I knew
that it would be elbow to elbow if we had this party here.
So I decided to find a place that would accomodate all of us.
I got on the phone for days calling around to see who could
fulfill this task and be a place that everyone would like. I
then thought of Johnny's because they had a nice private area
for parties so I called them and someone on the phone told
me they just closed down for good due to the highway
expansion and wasn't going to re-open anywhere else.
Well bummer I thought so now back to the drawing board.
I started taking polls from Bobby's sisters because they do like to
give their opinions even when you don't ask ha. So after days
of headaches of trying to decide what to do I then decided
to just pick somewhere and tell everyone this is how it is
and if you want to come that would be great. So Red Robin it is.
I know my daughter likes it and I like it and Bobby's brother
likes it so that is where it will be. The only thing is that they
don't take reservations or even hold enough room for that
many people so they said to call 30 minutes ahead to let them
know that you are coming. I don't know why they want you to do this
because we still had to wait about 30 minutes for them to find
enough room to fit us all at.
During the week of planning everything, there was alot going
on that might hinder me from pulling this all together. I was
just getting over being down with my heart episode and I was
having to help my mom some take care of my ailing dad who
has given up on living and not wanting to eat much. He is pretty
much bedfast and can't do anything at all. We finally got hospice
for him and they provided us with a wheelchair and hospital
bed for him which is a big help. so sometimes if you see me and
I am a little more quiet than usual it is because I have my dad
on my mind.I am a daddy's girl and it is hard to see him like that.
I also appreciate my brother Russ for all the help he has been in
helping with our dad. Don't know what I would do without him.
Sorry I got of my main subject a bit. Bobby's mom we found out that
week was ill also with her emphysema and hopefully would be better
before the party so she could come. I was about to pull my hair out
trying to get this thing put together. The next challenge was
trying to make up something to get Bobby's brother to come without
him being suspicious. Bobby told him that we were going to take our
daughter out to eat for a belated birthday dinner and that we wanted
to treat him to dinner as well for his upcoming birthday. Luckily he
agreed to this.
Finally last Saturday came and we started out with a busy day of
our early morning run. I did wake up with a start of a head cold
and I thought not today of all days. Bobby & I then had to hurry home
after our run because we had a early hair appointment. Then after
that we had to hurry home to meet up with his brother who was
to ride with us. I was trying to make sure everyone was there
before us without him knowing what was going on. Finally
we arrived at Red Robin and when we got in the door everyone
was inside waiting for him and surprised him. I did it! I pulled
it off without him knowing what was going on and everything
else went well. WE had a nice get together and everyone was having
a good time visiting since Bobby's family lives out of town we hardly
get to see each other. Later some of them did come back to our
house and it wasn't that bad at all squeezing them in. I was
thankful the weather was nice so they could go outside
if they wanted. well here are a few pics from that day.

me with my brother Russ and his wife Christin after our run.

Bobby with his mom, brother paul, sisters Steph (black top)
and Joanie (purple top)

4 generations. Bobby, his mom, our daughter & granddaughter.

Bobby & I with our daughter, her husband Josh, and granddaughter.

All of us lined up at this big long table waiting for our food.
I felt sorry for our waitress having to take care of this crazy bunch.

This is my favorite and awesome coach Kathy who
loves cake and so I thought of her when we were eating this



TZ I know reading this blog was like reading a novel
but hope you enjoy anyways.

4 comments:

meg said...

Great job putting it all together!! I'm sorry to hear about your Daddy. Unfortunately I think alot of us are going through the same thing right now. It is very hard, but at least we are healthy and able to make them more comfortable. Hang in there!!

BOCA said...

I am so excited for you that it all worked out! Yeah for pulling off the surprise!

Bobby said...

Great post Susan. Thank you for getting the party together. It was nice getting everyone together. All the credit goes to you, except for the brilliant idea of course.

T Z said...

Any good novel is worth reading WITH A PIECE OF CAKE!