It was supposed to be easy. Food, folks, and fun. But when it comes to my mom, things never play out as you expect.
First, we had to deal with the guest list. Trying to keep this soiree to 20 people or less was like trying to keep a mob of teenagers from the Jonas brothers. Every time I called one person, they had a suggestion on who else I should invite. By some miracle, mostly due to the prior commitments of invitees, we had 18 guests. Plus, we didn't tell our dad about the party until two days out, knowing full well he would have invited half the city if he had know about it sooner.
The second major hurdle was keeping Mom in the dark. I'm not a fan of the surprise party, so I was perfectly happy telling her about it upfront, but B wanted her to be surprised. "Somebody's going spill the beans, " I argued. "You know our people can't keep secrets."
Not one person breathed a word! I swear, if I had said this was a surprise, somebody would have called her and told her all about it. Go figure.
We ended up telling her anyway. Mom's a glamour girl, and I couldn't think of an excuse to get her in a jazzy outfit without raising suspicion. Dad suggested telling her we were going to O'Charley's. That just wasn't going to cut it.
We had the party this past Saturday, and Mom loved it. She was decked out with chandelier earrings, two necklaces, two rings, a bracelet, an ankle bracelet, and glittery shoes (I didn't say anything. It was her birthday after all.)
Despite a mixup with our party wings order, we had plenty of food and drink to go around. Mom walked from room to room all night, mingling with her guests. My aunt even took her to the casino afterwards.
I was bone tired the next day, but it was all worth it.
