There was a surprise party

...and it wasn't even a result of my impolitely requesting one right here on this blog.

Evidently, my Darling Husband began thinking about this, and told my parents to plan for it, LAST year around my birthday. He is so smart. And kind. And good.

Through all the stress of moving he has also been coordinating this.

It was wonderful, of course. He rented a space, even, and sent Evites to my friends for whom he had to go digging up email addresses. Even if I HAD known about it, which I did not, it was still SUPER surprising to see friends gathered at the top of the stairs, yelling, "Surprise!" (I laughed and burst into tears, naturally.) There were girlfriends from our kids' school (it's hard to know what to call these friends, btw; "school friends?" No... "Mom friends?" I don't know. Anyway, my current girlfriends whose kids attend my kids' school. Ha.), previous job friends, current job friends, friends from college (!), and Mom and Dad peeking through the crowd to ultimately surprise me all the way from Florida.

I.

Loved.

It.

There are only a few instances in life when a person gets to feel so beloved and special, and I'll float on this high of knowing people "like me, they really like me," for a long time to come. And anytime after that, if I'm feeling down. I'll never forget it. Black "Over the Hill" signs and all. I'm so happy for Shawn for pulling it off! He didn't tell the kids, so they were confused/surprised, as well, which I think is so fun. I racked up a lot of bottles of wine! Wooo! But really, more important, I was so, so happy. It was perfect.

So, hello FORTY. You're looking great so far.


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This week, summer has hit full stride. I mean, it's been stupid-busy since the kids got out of school because of the move. We haven't had a "regular" summer week yet - and maybe we won't at all, this year. Last week was hijacked by two things: One, I had a 2-day meeting on the other side of town, for which I stayed in a hotel, Monday-Tuesday. It felt really weird to have just moved into the house and then pack a bag to spend the night away from everyone, for work. (The meeting itself was mostly awful/boring, to boot.) Tuesday while I was away, Kate had a fever/headache and had to stay "home" from camp, i.e., at the office with Daddy. Wednesday she seemed to feel better, and it was a swimming day for her, so she went to camp. But that evening she was feverish again, so I kept her home with me TH, took her to the doc and she was diagnosed with strep. So we worked from home together again on Friday.

THIS week, Alex is at his Comic Book Art & Manga camp at KSU. I'm so excited for him, ...and apprehensive. He's really wanting to learn some drawing techniques and loves everything about Manga. I know that if there are other kids in the class who are already excellent artists, he's going to feel "less than." This is just the way he is. But I hope, hope, hope he'll enjoy it and do well, and learn. We've had the "don't compare yourself to others" discussion but it's a tough lesson to ever learn (pretty sure I haven't fully learned it yet; pretty sure most adults never do).

NEXT week, they're off to Pensacola for a week with the grands and cousins. Then: BEACH WEEK!

Many reasons June is my favorite. ;)