A clandestine operation was hatched by my cousins, Mary Ann and Kristine (with the help of another cousin, Danielle) a few weeks ago for their mom’s surprise birthday party. Auntie Ditas turned 70 last week without fanfare or any other special celebrations. Let me tell you this: my aunt doesn’t look, act, or move like she is 70, and lives a very active life of travelling and still even works once a week as a nurse. I talked to her on the phone on her birthday and she didn’t have a clue of what was going to happen a week later because invitations with a warning to keep it secret, were sent out to relatives from Camarillo where one of my cousins lived. They didn’t even tell my uncle because they knew he wouldn’t have been able to keep it to himself.
So how did they keep things on the down low? While we were waiting for my aunt to arrive at the restaurant, I learned from Mary Ann what the plan was. With the pretext of Auntie picking up her daughter Kristine and new 3 month old granddaughter Noelani coming from Camarillo on the Metrolink train, they were to have a private lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory next to the train station afterwards. But we had already gathered in the mezzanine dining area of the restaurant. With some relatives still arriving at the parking lot and hanging around the restaurant lobby, my cousin Kristine had to do some misdirection and maneuvering to distract my aunt from seeing those relatives. I’m sure my aunt’s excitement of seeing her new granddaughter again helped. Grandparents can have tunnel vision that way.
So they ushered my unsuspecting aunt and uncle to the restaurant and up the mezzanine, and the surprise was sprung. Thankfully she didn’t fall backwards down the stairs when we yelled, SURPRISE!!! Her reaction appeared to be: “why are there so many people here?” After the initial shock had dissipated, we commenced the joyful celebration of my aunt’s new birthday milestone. She was pleasantly surprised and very happy, for sure J. With the way my cousins planned this party, and if ever they wanted to work for the CIA, they just might qualify.
Other minor notes on the party: I finally met my new 3 month old niece, Noelani whom I’ve only previously seen in photos and on webcam. We saw a bunch of bearded men having their own party at the same restaurant and they turned out to be a Santa Claus club. My nieces and nephews loved them!
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