Every year on November 4th my Dad celebrates a birthday. This year he turned the BIG, BIG 80. So since this was one of the big birthdays my mother wanted to give him a small celebration. I mean how could we not give him a big Hoopla the man did turn 80…So the planning began.
At first my mom wanted to have it out in a restaurant. Just invite a few close friends have dinner, drinks, birthday cake and then call it a night. However, as she started to add who she wanted to invite the list grow to be more than just a ‘ few good friends’.
Just a little incite to my mom, she does not know how to keep a party list to a minimum…NOOOOOOOOO! Not my mom.
So the arguing began.
Then it hit me, why do I have to worry, I am not paying for this event…Of course the fighting between me and my mom does not end there…I never knew how indecisive she can be…decision making for my mom is not easy…and I refused to make the decisions for her…see I know how she operates…If I make the decision then she can blame me for all the wrongs, if everything goes great she (mom) claims fame…I know some bosses like that…Anyway I digress.
After completing the list and getting the invitation ready my mom then changes her mind…”No”, she says, ” I am not sure if we should have the party in a restaurant, I want to invite more people.” Then so be it..She did a 380 degree turn when she realized the cost of the event…I mean you cannot just invite all these people and not pay for them.
Now I knew I had to make the decision for her, she trapped me…”Ma”, I said, “We have a big basement and have had plenty of parties in it, having another one is no big deal, the cost will be less and the number of guests will not be an issue.” She quickly agreed and then began to worry about too many people in the basement…stop it, stop it, stop it, “Que Sera Sera,” I said…
Now the party plans ran smoothly, until Sandy hit…we then had to contact over 50 people to let them know that the party has been rescheduled for the following Saturday. Unfortunately, due to that date change some of our guest were unable to attend…we understood of course…the party did happen and he was surprised…See I told him I was having my in-laws over for drinks. To get him down the basement, right after church, we told him there was a BIG problem in the wash room, see he always hangs his jacket upstairs when he comes home from church, he could not go upstairs…
SURPRISE! My dad was so happy to see his friends, which he has few of since most of them have left this world…I knew my dad would cry when he realized what was going on and sure enough he did….and he was not the only one…