SURPRISE!

Saturday would be Dad’s birthday. I’ll never forget the surprise party Mom and her friend, Alene, threw for him when he turned 29. On the Friday night of his birthday, the three of us were supposedly on our way to a movie in Rockford. He was driving our black coupe with four-year-old me sitting in the middle and my mother next to the right-hand door. Mom and I shared a small blanket over our knees and a secret. When we entered the city, Dad stopped in front of Charlie and Alene’s apartment building on Rockton Avenue. He quickly ran up the stairs to return an empty honey jar. He walked into their second floor living room and a bunch of friends shouted, “Surprise!” Mom and I joined the group. Dad enjoyed the party, but it was obvious he was peeved.

Afterward, he vowed it would never happen again. He liked parties but only when he knew they were happening. Each December, he was alert for secret preparations. He sniffed the air for the odor of Mom baking something special and checked the corners of the rooms to detect if she’d done extra cleaning.

Ten years after that first surprise birthday party, the two friends couldn’t resist instigating another. The Wednesday of his 39th birthday, Dad chauffeured me to an evening chorus practice at Durand High School. Despite his vigilance, he was surprised to be greeted by a gathering of friends when he returned to our living room about 8:30. Again, he was miffed.

In many ways, Ken is like my dad. but not when it comes to surprise parties. The year my husband and his longtime buddy, Wayne, turned 50, we went to his pal’s surprise party three weeks before Ken’s birthday. A few days after the festivities, I asked my spouse how he wanted to celebrate. He ducked his head and mumbled, “I’d really like a surprise party like Wayne’s.

I informed him it was too late to plan a party. But it wasn’t. After he left for work at the sheriff’s department, I grabbed the phone and organized the get-together he requested. As a ruse, I asked his brother, Tom, to invite us for a celebratory supper at Glarner Stube in New Glarus, Wisconsin.

On the Friday evening of Ken’s birthday, the two of us were sitting at our kitchen table with Tom and his wife, Jan, enjoying a drink. We were waiting for our daughter’s sitter to arrive so the four of us could leave. My mate answered a knock at the front door. He was shocked and pleased when the crowd of his friends standing there hollered, “Surprise!”

Twenty years later, a large surprise birthday party at the Legion Hall elated Ken on his 70th birthday.

Do you love or hate surprise birthday parties?