Yesterday was Sheila's 75th birthday. I decided to go all out to make it a good one. She refused a spa day and since I needed her out of the house to prepare for her surprise party I convinced her to work and save the vacation day for travel.
The plan was that our daughter and grandson would visit her at work and keep her there until the guests arrived at our home. That didn't work out. She made it home about five minutes before the first guests arrived. But she was still surprised. Kind of shocked actually.
The food was catered by our favorite hole in the wall Mex joint. Since they speak no English my negotiating and ordering the food was an adventure in my broken Spanish with a little of their Spanglish thrown in. As the two sweet little ladies were helping me carry the food to the car I told them it was "mi esposa's cumpleanos," my wife's birthday. Huge smiles came across their faces as they wished her happy birthday in Spanglish.
A well known local blues musician was supposed to play for us. He called at ten the morning of the party to let me know he couldn't make it. An arthritis flare up. Arthritis in the hands is a musician's curse. So, I called a musician friend who lives just down the road and is usually up for small gigs. He was already committed elsewhere.
So, I provided what little entertainment there was singing and playing the uke. That was a poor substitute for what I had planned but you work with what is available. I think things were going OK. I was doing jazz standards Leon Redbone style. But then I did the St. James Infirmary Blues. That may have been a little much. The looks on a some of the ladies faces were ..... well .... interesting. But, I followed it with a hot version of Sweet Home Chicago and that brought most of the smiles back.
Charles Glenn, who among his many skills is a very talented professional photographer, set up a video rig in my office and as the evening progressed he would tap people on the shoulder and ask them to come back and record their birthday wishes on video. He also shot some live video.
The party went well. There were good friends, good food and good fellowship. Sheila had a great time. That was the goal and I think by God's grace that happened. I had prayed for the strength to get it all done and that prayer was answered.
My only regret was that we couldn't invite so many of the people we would have liked to. I could only invite a couple of representatives of each of the separate social groups we are a part of. Our home is tiny, a lot of them are elderly and need to sit and as it was there were still people standing around with a taco in one hand a drink in the other with barely room to move around.
Today is going to be a tense day. Sheila has an important doctors appointment this afternoon. Serious decisions may have to be made. I'm glad she had a great night before facing it.
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