You’re wondering, aren’t you?
Wondering if I was able to face the obstacle of celebrating my 50th birthday?
I shared with you last week how I was turning 50 and was feeling good about life. No angst here. It’s been a big year after all — getting married, getting a kid, getting a career boost.
I also let you in on my secret plan to spend my actual birthday night staging a reverse surprise party of sorts for five longtime girlfriends living in the San Francisco Bay area who will also turn 50 in 2013.
There certainly were no shortage of obstacles pulling this one off. The first, of course, was getting them to a restaurant last Saturday night. For that, I needed the help of each of the husbands. I left it up to the men to come up with a ruse their respective wife would buy. Cyndi, my best friend since the first day of kindergarten, thought she and her husband were meeting his boss and her husband for dinner. Sandra, my freshman college roommate is married to a rabbi who told her they were meeting another rabbi and his wife. You know an event is blessed when you can get a rabbi to lie for you. Then there’s Malcolm, who told Gina he bought a Groupon coupon for this particular restaurant.
“Really, Malcolm?” I wondered earlier in the week. “A Groupon coupon for one of the nicest restaurants in San Francisco!?”
“I had to go with something like that,” he insisted. “Gina handles all of our social plans. If I told her we were meeting friends, she’d be suspicious that she hadn’t set it up.”
All the dodging worked right up to the moment of the party, as each unsuspecting friend arrived at the restaurant one by one. It almost looked choreographed. Good thing the restaurant had given us a private dining room with a curtain separation because there was plenty of squealing and delight as each friend arrived, first shocked to see me standing there, then overwhelmed with the idea that we would be celebrating a total of six birthdays this night. I explained the concept of the reverse surprise party as I placed a plastic pink feathered tiara on each birthday girl’s head.
Each surprise brought as much joy as opening the most expensive gift. We spent the evening sharing great food, wonderful memories and reflections on our current lives. Five very understanding husbands by our sides. How lucky we are to have men who get that having such wonderful lifetime girlfriends is among the greatest gifts we cherish.
In fact, days later when I made it back home, I opened a card from my college roommate, nicknamed AnnaBanana. She had sent it the week before, making sure it would make it to me by my special day. “I hope you are marking your special 50th birthday milestone,” she wrote, “by doing whatever is most meaningful to you. Happy Birthday, my precious friend.” Given that I spent my birthday with Anna sitting right next to me at the reverse surprise party birthday dinner table, I’d say that is one wish that came true.
Thank you for coming along for my secret party and even more so for sharing the journey of figuring out this next chapter of my life.
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