I’m not going to lie. It’s not easy to fake me out. Unless, that is, you are my closest friends.
You might remember, as I told you about it not that long ago, that I have the best friends. They banded together to throw me an open house/party for my birthday. It was pretty intensely amazing. I was in awe. This, however, wasn’t enough for them. They really had a field day with me. Let me tell you the story.
So, after hearing the announcement, and feeling all mushy and loved, I decided that the best response to my friends doing wonderful things for me was to invite them all to my house afterwards for more party, games, and of course drinks. I started telling people to come, and my housemate Annie (who shall from this time forth be called the arch-conspirator) asked who all I had invited over. I assumed it was because she wanted to know what to expect. No. It was because she is super crafty.
How crafty is she? She works for me at the hotel I manage. She had gotten a hold of some of my family members, and conspired to get my aunt and cousin Steve down from Madison, WI to surprise me. She booked them under an assumed name at my hotel. I had no idea that they were coming, until they walked in the door. (1)
My friends did all kinds of amazing things, from Lego decorations and Lego chocolates to delicious and plentiful food. They also arranged to Skype with my family during the party, and had all kinds of interesting Becky stories and pictures everywhere. I even was made home-made Minced Pies! (MMMMM)
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What an amazing party. I felt so loved. My friends went all out. Time for me to pay them back. My friend Laura had come up for the weekend. (2) She brings her two dogs with her. We planned that we would skip out of the party during the cleanup and head home to let the puppies out and then put them in my bedroom before the rest of the party people came back for games and such. A couple of friends were going to follow us there. I had asked some other friends if we could borrow their game Curses. (3) Katie stops me midway through the party and tells me she accidentally left Curses and my present at home. Could I please stop by and collect them? The girls (Lily, Mady, and Abby) would love to see me open it. So Laura and I, followed by my friend Dawn, headed to Matt and Katie’s house. We got there, and headed in the downstairs entrance. Katie was looking for the game. First in the trunk, (Oh Bekki. Look I found my murder Mystery dinner pack. We so have to do this sometime) then under the stairs, (I was sure it was down here…Hmm I think there is one more place I can look). Then the girls stepped in, (Look at my dance barre bek-o. Watch me dance. No watch me. No me) and then my present made an appearance (Mady: we have to wait until everyone gets here! Me: Oh, should I wait until Daddy comes too? Kt: no it’s ok). All the time I’m worried about getting home and letting those dogs out before the rest of my guests arrive. I open presents, and Matt comes down stairs asking Katie where his brown shoes were. She heads upstairs to help him find them, and find the Curses game. I’m very concerned when my friend Laura pipes in with “Mady. I haven’t seen your bedroom. You want to show me your bedroom?” and Mady starts to dash upstairs. Half way up the stairs I’m summoned to join them. I reluctantly follow them up the stairs only to discover….
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They had all been sneaked in the back door and were waiting upstairs for me, wearing a wide selection of neckties in my honor. ”What, did you think we’d actually let you plan your own after party?” Amanda (co-conspirator and giant lego brick creator) asked? I was given a suitably old-looking birthday outfit, complete with glasses and a hat. Drinks, food, and games ensued, even the aforementioned Curses. My friends let me think I was inviting everyone over, but instead throughout the whole time, kept me in the dark. It was pretty stellar. I felt so loved.
So thank you, all you conspirators and planners. Thank you to everyone who came and surprised me. Thank you for all the kind words, the lovely gifts, and just remembering me. Thank you to everyone who contributed food, drinks, laughs, and hugs. I am so in awe that you all did this for me. It was amazeballs. Seriously.
1. It actually gets better than this. ”Bekki doesn’t work this Friday,” she told my Aunt Chris, “so you guys can arrive any time and it will be fine.” However I started thinking, Hmm. I will be off all weekend. I should go in to work for a few hours and make sure there is enough change and other things. So I did. I went to work. I’m in the office working away, and the front desk guy checks people in from time to time, but I always have an ear out in case I’m needed. Suddenly my cell rings with a number I did not recognize. It was from the admissions office at Johns Hopkins (a), so I lost all sense of reality while I talked with them about transcripts and other such things. At about the same time the FD guy checks in my Aunt and Cousin. They come in, state who they are and the shush’s them quickly (info I found out later) and I literally did not know that they were just outside my office door!
2. Not only did she bring mouth happy wine and other tasty treats, but she was the mastermind behind the two cakes that you see. Cakes which were so tasty. Cakes that made the Probation department at the JJC love me.
3. Curses is one of the best games of all time. You draw an action card and have to perform it. Action could be anything like “Demonstrate how you would shave a cat” to “You are running for office. Tell everyone else at the table why they should vote for you.” to “you are a bully. steal the lunch money from another player”. All this is funny in and of itself, but after you perform an action you draw a curse card that you get to play on another player. That player then must do everything he/she does in the game with that curse. Curses can be everything from “You are a leprechaun. Speak with an irish accent for the rest of the game” to “before you start your turn tell everyone an outrageous lie” to ” every time someone stands up shout out a pizza topping” to “you had an accident with superglue and your hands are stuck to the top of your head”. Trust me. This game gets hilarious. Well worth playing when mouth happy wine and other mixed drinks get involved.
(a) I know it was just a simple request to email unofficial copies so that they can process my application before the hard copies arrive and I’m trying hard not to read to much into it, but JOHNS HOPKINS CALLED ME! Ok. Calmer Now.
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