Mom's Big Birthday Surprise

After Mom and I spent five days marveling at the property from this past May's boat wedding, Dad secretly pulled me aside and said, "Go book that house for Mom's birthday." 

I was elated and I scampered off to book a ticket to the real life incarnation of my only dream. We planned a whole birthday weekend to be kicked off with a surprise party and snacks and cake and Mom's favorite people. It was all in place before the end of June. So we sat back and waited. Keeping secrets from Mom is difficult. Mom is curious and suspicious by nature and previously I hadn't realized how many questions she asks in a day. Ellen, Dad, and I almost blew the surprise many times. 

In August, Mom sat us down to explain that she did not want to celebrate her birthday. She did not want a party and she really really really did not want to be surprised. We all smiled and nodded and then gathered together to decide if we would get in trouble or Mom would be mad about all of it. But it was already done.

When the big day rolled around, I checked us in, hung tacky decorations and then sat back and waited. My HonBons were only moments away. Carolyn was coming with the cake. Dave with drinks, Ellen with food. Aunt Georgia, church friends, the neighbors. Even Alston and Hailey. 
Ellen and I were oddly nervous. We were so certain we would be getting in trouble after all of this was over. When Dad texted the five minute warning, everyone hid back in the kitchen while Ellen, Brett and I waited on the porch. 

Big Mama didn't see it coming. She was so excited about he house. I scampered on into the kitchen so I could capture her reaction face and as I joined the silent kitchen party we all heard Mom exclaim, "It's so old and exciting!" and that became the theme of the birthday weekend. 

I didn't check my light first so Mom's big reveal is blurry but it still looks just like her.

Papa Don took this giggle-filled video.

I loved watching Mom make her way though the house and hearing about all of the plans we hid from her. She's always so wonderfully outraged by things. Celebrating 60 years of Nancy is a wonderful thing. In true 60th birthday fashion, the party was over by 8:30. Brett and I had been out on the dock with Laurie, Don, and Dave and his giant cigar and when we finally made our way back up to the house, only Carolyn and Georgia were left. I liked it best like this. Mom then opened her presents which consisted of lots of candy. 

From here the weekend took on the pace of a true HonUnion. I was told that the parents slept until 9:00 that next morning. I heard they lazily got about their day, had breakfast closer to lunchtime and were finally up and ready by noon. I had big plans to be at the house by 8am but as I sprung out of bed and looked for my shoes, Brett quietly said, "Lu, I think I need to go take a Covid test."

I slowly turned to face him.

"Pardon?"

He'd had a tickle in his throat for a few days accompanied by a bit of achy muscles but who wants to read into these things. On this morning he also had a headache and scratchy throat. With the beach house and the Honbons and a wedding to attend the next day, we concurred that it was the responsible thing to do. We paid extra for same day results and I had to putter around until 1:00 to hear that he did not have coronavirus and thus I was able to drive back out to paradise. 

"Where have you been?" Laurie exclaimed when I finally arrived.

I spent a good chunk of this afternoon exploring with Ellen and we had the best time. We drove a golf cart through the mosquito infested woods; flying up over little hills and taking curves on two wheels. We laughed so hard we inhaled bugs. The best part was our discovery of the zip line. We have to give credit to Laurie here for she saw the zip line hanging in the tress and pulled it back up to the tree house thinking to herself, someone will do this. She was delighted to see the following video.

Ellen was nervous to jump from the tree house so she did a test run on the ground. We should have looked father into the future. 

When our nerves failed us, Lee stepped in to be the brave one. He climbed to the top of the tree house, grabbed the rope, hopped off the platform ... and then dangled there, spinning slowly like a forgotten piñata. He did not zip down the line. He was stuck just a few feet from the platform with the stretchy rope occasionally dropping him six inches or so. We had to push him into the bushes to get him down. 

We spent our weekend doing all of our HonUnion things but with so many added activities at our fingertips. Mom, Laurie and I foolishly rode on the back of the golf cart during an evening ride with Don and Dad. Though he disagrees, Dad drove manically.

We held on for life while the tires bottomed out beneath us on curves. Mom shouted for Dad to slow down but when he did the mosquitoes attacked and Mom would yell, "Go, go, keep moving!" so Dad would slam on the gas and all of us would scream. Laurie mumbled happily, "This was a mistake." 

Brett and I ran down to the end of the dock and jumped into the Folly River. Don and Laurie lounged in the tree house. Ellen took naps with baby Liv while Lee spent his day's out fishing on the dock. There was a boat ride and some Shanghai and one morning spent drinking coffee while I made floral dog collars for Olivia ... I mean a wedding that day. 

We ordered pizza, bickered about pot pie, accused Brett of faking sick to stay home, battled mosquitoes, and told stowries. I watched Laurie's continuous investigation of the owners of the home. She snooped and deduced and one time I stepped onto the porch to find her looking at pictures of the owner's current home on Sullivans island. "Well their address was on the package in the garage. Look how much they paid for it in 1999..." and she turned her phone around to show me the details. "I'd have made wonderful investigator," she said, and I wholeheartedly believe it. 

Mom giggled at Dad all weekend for such a great birthday. She has since regaled all of us with the weekend as though we weren't there, and her face was beaming about it while she spoke. She claimed this "the best birthday ever" and keeps using the word "magical". 

I was just as excited for the Hon's to get to stay the weekend as I was for Big Mama. Those folks really like just sitting by the water. 

Don and Laurie have a tendency to talk to me at the same time so my focus is torn polity between them. I love how Big Don's eyebrows furrow and his mouth falls agape when I look away from him to answer Laurie's questions. I enjoy peeking over at Don at any moment just to see what he's doing. 

I also made them take the Enneagram personality test by which Don was appalled  ("I can't be categorized.") so we tried to answer the questions for him which meant even more outraged facial expression. Later we discussed whether or not Mom should rub out Bobo. 

It was an informative, magical weekend. 

A perfect way to celebrate 60 years of a different kind of jewel.