Surprise!

Today was the day. The day of surprises. The day of hurrah! It was Dad's a.k.a. the Duke's 60th birthday. We packed into Kyle's auto and made way to the Catskills. We couldn't wait to see the look on his face. Char (pronounced Cher), his woman friend, called two months out trying to slay us with the guilt card, "you know it would really be nice, if you kids could make it for your father's 60th birthday." Who are you? How dare you? Eck, she's not even pleasant. Besides, who calls two months out? The nerve. Anyway, we were ten steps ahead of her.

Kyle dropped us off at the corner. Jill and I, giggled as we crept through the neighbors yard and plopped on the lawn chairs. Kyle was in the house persuading the Duke to check out the back deck. "I can't get'em to come out. He's friggin' naked!" Kyle's plot was flawed. We chuckled, "Nah, that's okay, don't worry about it, we'll just wait till he comes out. There's no hurry." A few minutes later Kyle returned, "I told Char you guys were out here. She's the only one that can hurry his ass up." A slew of reaction came from the siblings. "Why in the hell did you do that Kyle?" Shane was pissed. "Kyle! Why? She's going to blow it." Sweet Jill finally not so sweet. Kyle, like all young siblings, meant well. I should know, I'm the ninth child of ten. Secrets, they're like tic tacs, why not share them?

The next door neighbors kept nosing their way into our business. Peeking and waving and making a visible fuss. "Don't look at them, they're whack." Jill conspired to overthrow the neighbors. The neighbor's filthy chocolate lab lapped our faces and scurried from yard to yard. Screams of "Happy birthday!" came from the front yard. "What the," Jill ducked wandering who blew the whistle. It was just a troupe of brownies that vacated a float and was now making way to the swing set. They just returned from the Catskill's Bicentennial Parade.

Our conversation wheeled towards whether or not Char was going to blow it. We didn't fly all the way here to have our surprise deflated. Finally, the door opened and Duke slowly made his way to the end of the deck, "Hey you made it." He was as surprised as my pet rock. "Did you know we were here?" I was surprised at his initial reaction. "No." He smiled. How did this man father my husband? Shane wore his emotions on his sleeve, he must've got it from Colleen; mom.

"Happy Birthday!" Shane hugged the Duke. We all had a hug out. "Why didn't you kids tell me?" Char was surprised and a bit dissapointed to have been ostracized. "We knew you couldn't keep a secret." Shane responded. I agreed and shrugged. Sure, I felt fake as we weren't huge Char fans. We were here for one reason, and it was to make sure that Dad was surrounded by his children on his day.

The barbecue was a different epic. Firstly, an assortment of beers were in three coolers, but the barbecue sloped pathetic. "So what are we eating? I'm hungry. Do you have anything to munch on?" Shane always excited about food. This was a big day, and all we had to celebrate were potatoes salad, sausages, corn, and a few bag of chips. Come on people! Let's get with the program. Probe a little, what was his favorite foods? At least start with that? Please don't tell me that it was sausages.

Yikes! There was a stifling silence in the kitchen. We were bewildered. One year olds have a more elaborate spread than this and they haven't mastered the way of the toilet yet. Where's the love? We never arrive one's house without food, thankfully we brought over 3 slabs of slowly roasted ribs and our german chocolate cupcakes. Kyle and I shot up to Price Choppers to get this party started.

Shellie's Proverb: A bed never gets made by complaining.

Once again, our bellies were at it's peak, and all that mattered was that we were all together. Childhood friends gathered, horseshoes kept the men at bay, and we women clucked and sipped on our cocktails. We did it. We made a father's wish come true.

Lesson: A wise Grasshopper must contribute to make a difference in this world.