Mom's 70th Birthday Surprise

 

 

Happy Spring! And it finally feels like it. Not only have we been above zero for a few days in a row now, but we're over the freezing point... and the massive meltdown has begun. Water is dripping from our eaves as I write this, and Emma fell on her butt in the dark of the morning when we stepped outside to take her to DI (she's fine). It's melty but there's still plenty of ice to watch out for.

 

 

Leila in new hat

 

 

This time of year comes with a cluster of family birthdays. I'd like to write about two of them-- my mom and dad's-- in this blog.

 

 

Dad turned 84 at the end of February. We had plans for him to come to Colfax that day, but there was a heavy snowfall so we postponed the visit until a few days later. He and Mom drove over on a Sunday and stayed the night. We had a big dinner and a very nice time.

 

 

Dad and Leila

Though another year older, Dad's health is better than it's been in awhile. He has enough energy and feels ambitious enough to be contemplating a few possible road trips in the future... there's a plan to pick his sister Lorelei up to drive her over to visit their other sister Irma, and another possible trip that would be even longer-- all the way to Arkansas. I'm glad he feels well enough to think about it, anyway. He seems happy and his mind and attitude are in very good shape.

Mom posing by some of her quilts that are for sale at our shop in Bloomer

My mother has a birthday at the beginning of March, and this year was her 70th. So my brother John cooked up the idea of throwing a surprise birthday party for her.

Surprise! Mom turns 70

The concept of a surprise party for Mom has actually been in the works for a couple of years now. Waiting until her 70th-- a milestone year-- seemed right, but of course there was the logistics of it... how to organize a party for her when most of us live so far apart and John himself lives all the way in New Jersey?

Everyone looks better in a small pointy hat (Dad with my brother Don)

The answer, of course, was... call on sister Laurie! Laurie's a good organizer and planner, and way better at anticipating and remembering important family events than some us. So she arranged to have a room waiting for us at Pizza Haven in Rhinelander, and gathered addresses / sent out invitations to family members that Mom doesn't see as often as she'd like, but who are always in her thoughts, her heart, and her memories...

Cousin Mitch, Uncle Dave, Mom and Uncle Don

And they came! Everyone arrived at Pizza Haven by about 5 pm. All the guests were from out of town, and some-- including Don (Arkansas) and John (New Jersey) were from out of state. As it approached 5:30, we turned off the lights and tried to be quiet (though it turns out it's not so easy to keep the Bragg and Bayer families quiet).


Mom thought she was going out to dinner just with Bill and Scott. She thought she was going to a pizza buffet in a back room. She walked in the door, and SURPRISE!!! Lights on and everyone blowing little horns and greeting her.


Usually people have an idea that they're in for something before the "surprise" party, but Mom really didn't know. When we got her to walk inside (she didn't understand what was going on and almost turned away and left), she then looked at each person and marveled: "Lisa?" and "Donnie??? You're here??", etc... as if each person was a wonderful surprise for her in their own right. It was very sweet.

Long-time family friends Chris and Hedi Blank, with their son Dan

My sister Laurie and her friend Ingrid, in the background. OF COURSE Ingrid was at Mom's party :)

Emma making a little noise

Guests at Mom's 70th

Leila and Bella

Mom, Don, Dad, John, me, Laurie, Bob, and Bill

We really enjoyed having Uncle Dave, Uncle Don, and Mitch and Christy present (representing Uncle Jim). Uncle Dave has a way of sniffing and a way of speaking (very "up north") that is SO Bayer and so much like Mom. And of course, both uncles are very good at telling Tall Tales and embellishing their stories. Cousin Jared made it with his family, which was awesome. We missed the cousins who weren't there, but of course not everyone can fly across the country at the drop of a hat and it felt like everyone was there in spirit.


We missed Uncle Chuck and Uncle Jim, who have been gone years now, but we exchanged stories about them. Mom mentioned how she had just been thinking about Uncle Kenny, since it was recently the anniversary of his death (many years ago, in a car crash). We remembered Grandma and Grandpa (this was helped along because Laurie had put together a picture board with a few old family photos to look at).


So it was really a good time and super special for Mom. Laurie said when she got home Mom took another look at her presents... and then a third look in the morning :). Some of us stayed in a nearby motel, but we gathered together at Mom and Dad's house in the morning for a fun "re-cap" of the night's events. Dad really seemed to enjoy the whole thing, too. He told me how Uncle Don said to him "Thanks for taking care of my sister" during the course of the night, and how touched he was by that.