I always wanted a surprise birthday party, and today, I finally got my wish. So, how does someone get a surprise birthday party when they’re putting the party on themselves? Just read on and find out..

Leo let me sleep in some – but then dad called at 8:30 to make sure I was getting up. The original plan last night was that we’d go to the Lake together and get the place ready for guests. But later in the evening, he called to say that he’d gotten an e-mail and now he had to run an errand in Dayton in the morning. He figured he’d be at the Lake by noon. No problemo, I could get things ready.

Shortly after I got up, the phone rang again. It was Amy! “Happy 33 1/3 birthday to you! Happy 33 1/3 birthday to you! Happy 33 1/3 birthday dear Trina, I forgot the time change!” She’d meant to call at 8:16am when I was actually 33 1/3 (I was born at 12:16am) but forgot that Central Time was an hour off. No matter, just talking to Amy was wonderful enough. She was at the airport waiting for Alissa, one of her friends, to arrive (and her flight was late). She talked for as long as she could, but then had to head off when Alissa’s plane arrived.

I packed up my car with my turn table and albums, the food and beverages, and stuff. And by 10am, I was on the road to Lake Loramie. Once I got there, I unpacked and set things up. The record player went in the patio room and the food in the fridge. I pressed the hamburger into patties and realized that I forgot to get fixins for the hamburgers and hot dogs. Once I decorated the place with my albums, I went off to Wagner’s grocery for a tomato, onion, and lettuce. I also got an apple to put in the fruit that we’d gotten (pineapple, blueberries and strawberries) the night before.

Back at the cottage, I was listening to the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and cutting up the sammich fixins. Round about noon, a knock came on the patio door. That was strange since I hadn’t seen a car pull up in the drive, but I went to go see. And then I saw the oddest thing… An Amy-shaped silouette. But Amy was in Minnesota, my brain said. I walked out into the patio room and the shape came in. “I brought your cake!” Amy said, with a big grin. I was shocked, to say the least. I almost cried, I was so thrilled to see my sissy! I gave her a big hug and dad took our picture. Awwwww!

We sat and talked for a bit. Turns out she was at Midway when she called me in the morning. The turkey! The Fishers arrived at 12:30. They were surprised to see Amy as well. (Turns out she’d booked the tickets the night before at 5:30pm. The errand that dad had to run was to pick Amy up from the airport.) I got the veggies out and we showed the Fishers around the place. Gary was really impressed and Marcia decided that they really needed to get a cottage themselves. 🙂

The Weavers arrived closer to 1pm and Amy insisted that dad start the fire for the burgers and dogs. (I was going to do it, honest! But while I was being hostess, Amy made dad to do it instead.) I believe Amy was a bit hungry. 🙂 The Weavers were just as impressed as the Fishers regarding the cottage. And we had a great lunch and fun conversation. Both the Fishers and the Weavers brought some LPs so we played some Bob Dylan that Marcia brought and a Queen album that Tammy brought. I had the Beatles playing at times as well.

Amy and Gary did their best at pouring Bass and Guiness to make Black & Tans, and they were somewhat successful. You could see the two tones in Amy’s glass in particular. (I found it funny that they had to use old Pepsi Cola glasses. Still, later in the evening, dad was drinking wine out of an old jam jar, so I guess it was fitting.)

Sometime after 3pm, we got the cake ready. Mom had ordered a cake from Wagners and it had a record on it and said “Happy 33 1/3 Birthday, Trina!” And Amy put 33 1/3 candles on it. (She cut 2/3rds off of a candle for one of them). She said that Rachel would have insisted. (Alas, Rachel wanted to come, but was unable. So she sent her stuffed Piglet as a proxy. I gave Piglet a big hug in lieu of Rachel.) And as Amy was lighting the candles, mom arrived! Yay! (She didn’t have to pick up her cousin-in-law from the hospital after all – someone else got him while she was at work.)

The cake was lit and everyone sang an interesting rendition of Happy Birthday (not everyone singing the same lyrics with Amy adding “33 1/3” into the mix). To blow out the candles, I had a brainstorm. Recently I bought a physics toy called an Airzooka. I had brought it to the Lake to show it off to folks and decided to use it to blow out the candles. I stood about 5 feet away from the cake and “whoosh”, all but 1 1/3 candles were blown out. I used my own breath to get those out. The cake was yummy and everyone enjoyed the Bailey’s ice cream.

The Weavers had to leave around 4pm because their oldest boy was going to the prom tonight. 🙂 They had to get back to take lots of photos. (I can’t believe he’s a senior now!) Once they were gone, Gary insisted on washing the dishes. Amy dried and I put stuff away. The Fishers headed off around 5pm and then it was just us. So we listened to albums and chatted. We finally left the cottage around 9pm and now I’m watching Big Fish and typing this up. It was a lovely day. And such a surprise to see my sister. 🙂