December 17, 2005

10:51 a.m.

Surprise

Imagine if it finally happened, and after all these years you were unprepared.

I hadn't showered or done anything with my hair, except wear my hat. I'd been sitting with Rose all day, knitting and half-watching movies, getting up to fetch her things. I was just going out to pick up the pizza, and in a rather testy mood at that. Too much traffic, too many red lights. It was 7:30 already and I was really hungry, and low blood sugar was making me cranky. Mike was at his office party and couldn't make it home for dinner anyway, so it was just the two of us. Driving to Bertucci's, I actually breathed to myself, "Well, no party again. That's okay. Just a quiet birthday with my sister. It's all right; it's all good, really. I have so much to be thankful for." One of our items wasn't ready so I had to wait at the counter for a few minutes. They'd also made a mistake on one of the pizzas (wrong cheese... though of course there's no such thing as wrong cheese) and gave us the mistake one for free, in addition to making a correct one. I drove back to the house, being careful about black ice. I pulled in. I opened the front door, stepped in, and noticed that the back living room (referred to as "the lodge") was dark. Wasn't that funny? Rose had been sitting in there with her foot up all day. Then the opening door brushed against something near the ceiling...

Crepe paper.

A strand of twisted crepe paper. There were several, in fact, and a big shiny banner across the top of the room that said... it said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BORNEARLY!

All this was taken in in about two seconds, and I burst out laughing. What a maroon.

Many voices yelled, "Surprise," my sister's voice among them laughing like Popeye ("Ar! Ar! Ar!"), lights came on, and the whole downstairs was decorated with childhood pictures of ME, and stickers and banners that said, "WBOR, 47.0 AMe, All Bornearly, All the Time!" Faces appeared that I hadn't seen in years. There were 17 people there. A friend from high school drove up from New Jersey. My Reiki teacher and her husband. Music friends. Rose and Mike's extended-friend family. Neighbors. The band. A woman I knew in the 90s, who had been my deceased ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend before me, so she knew all about that era. All but Dar, who had a show in Worcester and simply couldn't come, though he'd been in on it from the start. Someone took the pizzas from my hands. I switched out of my hat and into the stunning, sparking, diadem-studded TIARA which had come courtesy of Hissandtell (!!) JUST in time for the big celebration! There in my jeans and tiara (well, I also wore a shirt), I realized it was actually rather embarrassing to be the center of attention at a party. Well, in a good way. That one wouldn't mind repeating.

There were lots of cards, a couple of gifts (Wes got me some boys' red knit boxers with "Ho! Ho! Ho!" on them; oracle cards from my Reiki teacher), but instead of soliciting gifts, the kind schemers of this gala had rather taken up a collection for me. I mean, people actually put money in a bag (well, a beautiful gold and purple wine sack, actually) for me, to help out with bills. I thought, "Wow! A bag of money! I've always wanted one of these!" Mostly, though, I was amazed at the company. So many people who cared and showed up.

Rose gave me an awesome gift: she wrote out a check to the gas company, so I'd be ahead on the heating bill. Now I can actually be comfortable for a while.

Carol and Chris put together a beautiful hand-bound book with handmade paper flecked with herbs and grasses, which everyone signed. They had also solicited birthday greetings via email from people who couldn't come, friends and some fans, and these they had printed out beautifully and pasted into the book. People wrote about their memories of our friendships, and things we'd done together. I read it when I got home and was just speechless.

And stunned.

The money in the bag will pay my rent for a month.

Quite late, when everyone but one guest had left, I played my new song for Rose and Mike (who had come home towards the end of the party, red-eyed from having partied at the office). There's a strong theme of family in the song and how, if one doesn't marry and have kids, one's family circle just diminishes over time. It was ironic to be singing that after such a moving evening surrounded by so many bodies and so much love. I was grateful that I'd written the song when I did, because now I wouldn't be able to grasp just that angle any more.

There's so much more to write, but I have to leave in less than 90 minutes for a little tour, and I'm still in my jammies and unbreakfasted. I didn't get to bed until 3am. If it hadn't been for the balloons I saw kissing the ceiling the moment I awoke this morning, I might have thought it was all a dream.

I got my party! And, better than that, I realized how big my family is.