Party time, excellent!
My dad is big into his birthday, every year, but he get especially excited about his milestone birthdays. As far as I know, he's never explicitly said, "I expect a party every decade," but it's an operating assumption for our family. So as he approaches 70 this spring, the family is in planning mode for a surprise party.
(It should go without saying that my dad probably has no idea what a blog is, never mind that I have one, so I think I'm safe to write about it in this space. Although, even if he did know about my blog, he probably knows we're planning a party anyway, so it's sort of moot.)
I was only a baby when my mom threw dad a 40th birthday party, and I was just home from college for his 60th, so I had little to do with the planning of either of those. We actually had to cancel his 50th because of the death of my oldest sister's husband, which was a terrible time all around, and my brother's wife really just put her foot in her mouth last weekend when she mused aloud, "Was it dad's 50th or 60th when mom had about a year's supply of chicken in the freezer afterward?" and we all sort of looked anywhere but at each other and awkwardly mumbled, "Uh, 50th, we had to cancel..."
Anyway, back to the point(ish): I really wanted to be a part of the planning for the 70th, so I took on invitations. Which was a lot of fun, especially the part when my worse-control-freak-than-I-am oldest sister, bless her, looked at a mock-up and started criticizing everything about the language ("I think you need to say 'PROMPTLY' in there somewhere. Or add a line that says 'Don't be late; it's a surprise!'"), and our mom basically told her to stuff it, because the guests are all adults and understand the general operating principles of a surprise party.
But I did have fun with the invitations; we put three pictures of my dad (as a baby, in his early 20s, and finally in his late 60s) on the front, and people have been exclaming in their RSVPs how much they enjoyed the photos.
The other nice thing about getting the RSVPs is hearing how much people love my dad, and to see him through the eyes of his friends and colleagues in a way that I really haven't before. One of his former partners from the accounting firm sent a lovely note saying that my dad was like a brother to him, actually closer than a brother; another woman who's an old friend wrote, "I can't wait to give your dad a big hug; he and your mom are so special to me!"
[side note: I'm on the train to D.C. as I write this, and some guy a couple of rows back just made a phone call that started, "Yes, good morning, I just wanted to [muffle, muffle] police activity in the area..." and I just saw all of the heads around me, in unison, inch up just a bit, then turn slightly toward the guy, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. I think the guy saw it too, because he then lowered his voice considerably and hurried off the phone. I think we're all on somewhat heightened alert because the conductors keep mentioning over the PA system, and then actually enforcing, the random ID check that they almost never seem to do.]
I don't know yet whether we'll have some sort of forum at the party where people will make toasts, or if the guests will just express their affection and admiration privately to my dad, but it feels like a real gift to have this peek into a whole other side of my dad's life and self, where I've danced at the edges but hadn't fully understood. It's a nice gift, to me, for my dad's birthday.
(It should go without saying that my dad probably has no idea what a blog is, never mind that I have one, so I think I'm safe to write about it in this space. Although, even if he did know about my blog, he probably knows we're planning a party anyway, so it's sort of moot.)
I was only a baby when my mom threw dad a 40th birthday party, and I was just home from college for his 60th, so I had little to do with the planning of either of those. We actually had to cancel his 50th because of the death of my oldest sister's husband, which was a terrible time all around, and my brother's wife really just put her foot in her mouth last weekend when she mused aloud, "Was it dad's 50th or 60th when mom had about a year's supply of chicken in the freezer afterward?" and we all sort of looked anywhere but at each other and awkwardly mumbled, "Uh, 50th, we had to cancel..."
Anyway, back to the point(ish): I really wanted to be a part of the planning for the 70th, so I took on invitations. Which was a lot of fun, especially the part when my worse-control-freak-than-I-am oldest sister, bless her, looked at a mock-up and started criticizing everything about the language ("I think you need to say 'PROMPTLY' in there somewhere. Or add a line that says 'Don't be late; it's a surprise!'"), and our mom basically told her to stuff it, because the guests are all adults and understand the general operating principles of a surprise party.
But I did have fun with the invitations; we put three pictures of my dad (as a baby, in his early 20s, and finally in his late 60s) on the front, and people have been exclaming in their RSVPs how much they enjoyed the photos.
The other nice thing about getting the RSVPs is hearing how much people love my dad, and to see him through the eyes of his friends and colleagues in a way that I really haven't before. One of his former partners from the accounting firm sent a lovely note saying that my dad was like a brother to him, actually closer than a brother; another woman who's an old friend wrote, "I can't wait to give your dad a big hug; he and your mom are so special to me!"
[side note: I'm on the train to D.C. as I write this, and some guy a couple of rows back just made a phone call that started, "Yes, good morning, I just wanted to [muffle, muffle] police activity in the area..." and I just saw all of the heads around me, in unison, inch up just a bit, then turn slightly toward the guy, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. I think the guy saw it too, because he then lowered his voice considerably and hurried off the phone. I think we're all on somewhat heightened alert because the conductors keep mentioning over the PA system, and then actually enforcing, the random ID check that they almost never seem to do.]
I don't know yet whether we'll have some sort of forum at the party where people will make toasts, or if the guests will just express their affection and admiration privately to my dad, but it feels like a real gift to have this peek into a whole other side of my dad's life and self, where I've danced at the edges but hadn't fully understood. It's a nice gift, to me, for my dad's birthday.
1 Comments:
You are quite adorable. The invitations sound great. As for Mr. Cell Phone, the volume with which people speak on their cell phones during train rides always baffles me. Of course they are usually directly behind me...while I'm trying to sleep.
-Shari
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Anonymous, at 10:52 AM
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