One of my favorite Eddie Izzard stand up routines was him discussing the element of surprise. He was telling the story of how he wanted to be in the army when he was younger, but at the time figured his transvestism was an impediment to that career (which at the time it kind of was). He said the army was missing out on a huge strategic advantage, because what would be better than the 1st Battalion Transvestite Brigade (Airborne Wing). Imagine seeing a bunch of men parachuting out of the skies, with perfect makeup. The enemy would be so intrigued, watching them, elbowing each other saying, “Look at these guys.... oh, wait, they’ve got guns! [holds up hands in surrender] Were you surprised? I was surprised.”
My BFF got bored waiting all morning to show up at my house so we could all go to the spa for mani-pedis, massages, and facials (not all at once--we each chose our own treatment). She came up a little early, and picked up my mom at the hotel on her way. We chatted for a while, then headed out to be pampered. I got a mani-pedi, for the first time in ages, and it was glorious. I think I have only had one other pedicure since I moved to Colorado, and it was awful. Pretty sure I haven’t paid for a manicure in at least four years. My daughter did the same, and we talked about cats almost the entire time (natch). Once BFF had her massage and mom had her facial, we were all happy and relaxed, and we headed off for lunch.
It was a football day, so we went to the place that is half sports bar, half restaurant. BFF said she made reservations, which I thought was a little excessive, but I didn’t put much thought into it. We went to the hostess desk, and I heard her give her name, but when the hostess pointed her to the sports bar side, I thought it was really odd. The Red Zone doesn’t take reservations. I just followed her lead, and didn’t voice my questions. It wasn’t until I saw my neighbor’s face smiling and saying happy birthday that I had the slightest clue what was happening.
Apparently there was a big conspiracy going on for several weeks. The only whiff I had of it was when my older daughter kept being evasive when I asked her if she’d gotten her plane tickets for the Eddie Izzard show on Monday and she kept blowing me off saying, “I’ll take care of it.” Still, I didn’t focus on it. There were friends, neighbors, and family members gathered in a private area. There were gluten free appetizers already on the tables (although I blinked and the gluten free flatbread pieces for the artichoke dip vanished before I got to try a single bite). And my favorite part of all, they conspired to bake a flourless chocolate cake from my own recipe, and recreated one of my favorite birthday surprises of all... When I turned a quarter century old, Mr S-P made two round cakes that looked like quarters, front and back. See pictures for this year’s cake. And to top it all off, CU finally won a conference game!
Were you surprised? I was surprised.
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