My 40th Birthday Weekend Extravaganza turned out to be a lot of fun. And there was a surprise, too. No, not a party, but a surprise nonetheless.
Let me start with Friday afternoon. I had a pedicure right after work, and on my way home from the salon I was heading to Target when my cell rang. It was my sister, Ann, wanting to see how my weekend was shaping up. We chatted for a bit, until I had arrived at Target and was ready to head into the store.
Once home from Target, I was sifting through the mail (gift from Chris!) and the doorbell rang. When I opened the front door, Joy was standing there. As I opened the door to invite her in she said that she needed to get something from her car. She was back in seconds with Ann! She'd flown down from North Carolina for my birthday weekend!
The little tricksters had been sitting in Joy's car in the cul-de-sac at the end of the street, waiting and watching for my arrival. Ann's phone call had completely fooled me. I never would have guessed that she was just feet from my front door.
We ordered our favorite pizza and afterward had leftover Raspberry Elegance cake. So, while I didn't think there were any birthday related plans made for Friday, it turns out there were some after all.
* * *
Saturday morning I arose bright and early for the tennis tournament. I arrived at the park around 8:30 and though it was several hours before the picnic was to start, there was already quite a bit of activity. There were tents everywhere with people getting all sorts of things ready for guests. I wasn't able to have a look around though, because it was time to start warming up.
Our first match was against my original partner, Diane, and her son, Andrew. Well, my partner Miguel is an awesome player and we had them beat 8-0 (8 game pro set) in less than 30 minutes. I did contribute some, but the win was primarily due to Miguel. It happened so quickly, Tom missed the entire match. He and I sat together watching other matches for a few minutes, then decided to explore the park.
There were two large entertainment pavilions and a huge tent where the Sonny's Barbeque lunch would be set up. Numerous booths offered cotton candy (grabbed a bag of pink for myself), ice cream sandwiches, popcorn, hotdogs, snow cones, roasted corn, and more. There was a special area for the Chili Cook Off and an area for the Dessert Contest. We wandered over to the car show grounds, but Tom's dad hadn't yet arrived with his 1949 Plymouth.
Eventually we returned to the tennis courts and while we were watching a few of my friends play, Ann and Joy arrived, bringing Tom's dad with them. My personal cheering section was complete.
Then it was time for our second match. We were scheduled to play Billy and Jennifer, but Jennifer couldn't be there (I never found out why) and a stand-in had been found. She turned out to be a fairly strong player and despite Miguel's talent and skill, we were no match for them and ended up losing 8-4. That knocked us out of the finals.
So, tennis over for the day, my cheering section and I went in search of lunch. We loaded up plates with barbeque, found a beverage booth, selected a picnic table in the shade and enjoyed our meal.
I went to the tennis tournament tent to find out who would be playing in the finals. Billy's team made it, of course and someone suggested that instead of the stand-in player, I should play as Billy's partner since I had been involved in the tournament from the start. Billy agreed sincerely, so I went back to inform my fans that I would indeed be playing in the finals after all.
I let Tom off the hook and told him he could go on home if he wanted. Naturally, he was relieved and left soon after. Ann, Joy and I wandered for a bit, checking out the scene and getting ice cream sandwiches for dessert. (the line for cotton candy was about a mile long, so I was glad I got mine that morning)
At last, it was time for finals. Billy and I were to play Walt and his teenage daughter, Elizabeth. They are both on the doubles league and play at Singleton on Saturdays too. I know and like them both very much. And Billy turned out to be a super guy so the finals were fun and much more relaxed than the earlier two matches. Billy and I fought hard and came back from a few early losses, but we couldn't quite come up with the goods. Walt and Elizabeth won 8-6.
As much as I'd rather have won, after seeing how proud young Elizabeth was with her trophy, I think it turned out for the best.
Billy, Amy, Miguel, Elizabeth and Walt.
* * *
Joy, Dean, Ann, Tom and I went out for my official birthday dinner that evening. We went to Shells, one of my absolute favorite restaurants, and I had my usual shrimp and pasta dish. It's always wonderful. After dinner we all went back to Joy's house for cake and presents. The girls had gotten me a chocolate version of the raspberry cake. Also delicious.
* * *
Sunday morning came much too soon. Tom and I had gotten home so late Saturday night, then lost an hour due to the time change. Getting up early to go mountain biking at Santos didn't sound like a great idea any more. But we already had arranged to meet friends at the trail, so we drug ourselves ourselves out of bed and got ourselves ready and packed for the road trip. It takes about two hours to get to the Santos Trailhead in Belleview (near Ocala) and we ended up being about 30 minutes late.
We rode for a few hours, but I have to admit, I wasn't having a very good day. Perhaps the Birthday Curse got in my head. Or it could have been the lack of sleep and too much excitement on Saturday. At any rate, I simply didn't have the energy for it. I wasn't riding well and I wasn't riding fast. It was a bit of a bummer after driving so far.
On the way home, we stopped at Cracker Barrel and had breakfast for my real birthday dinner. Not that I'm complaining - I love breakfast at Cracker Barrel and generally order the same thing every time I'm at the restaurant. Oh, I also got a cute brown shirt that says: Forget Love, I'd Rather Fall in Chocolate.
* * *
I got to sleep in on Monday as I had already scheduled a vacation day. My big plans were to take everything out of the master closet and then paint the walls a medium gray. This turned out to be a bit more of a chore than I had counted on. It took me forever just to remove all of the contents. I called Tom and cried to him about the problem and he promised to help me when he got home from work.
I went to Lowe's and bought paint and other supplies. Once Tom got home he removed the leftover shelving from the walls for me. I patched holes and taped and prepped the area. Tom rolled the walls while I did the edges and corners. The work was finally done around 9:30 that night. (this included a break to eat dinner and watch Chuck)
And thus concludes the 40th Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!
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