The surprise party for my husband tonight went really, really well. Not everyone ended up being able to make it, but the key players all did, which was awesome. My husband was truly surprised, and he actually made it all the way in the door before discovering what was going on – no one blew it(!). Fun fact: My brother actually almost blew it, because he kept talking after we said to be quiet, when my husband pulled up out front. I had to shush my brother directly, and he asked what the problem was, clearly bothered by the ridiculous notion of having to be silent entirely, versus just moderately quiet. I informed him that the front window was still open (because we had been cooling off the house a bit), and he promptly understood that he genuinely had just about blown the whole thing. But he didn’t(!). And it all worked out great!
I think my husband truly was glad about the whole thing, and that he had a really great time. Thinking about it now, I’m not sure he’s had a time hanging out with friends lately where the conversation doesn’t go directly to talking about his hours and how much more he has to go, etc., etc… For the first time in a long time, not only did he get to spend time with friends in the first place, but without the pressure of knowing he needed to get back in a plane as soon as possible, and without having everyone necessarily remind him constantly of that fact by simply asking about his progress. Tonight, everyone knew he had reached his goal, and we all got to celebrate him and his accomplishment, and, truly, just hang out together. It was really quite awesome. I’m so happy we did it, and I’m grateful it all went so well.
Including the part where my husband forgot that I had asked him multiple times about helping me with party prep for our daughter’s birthday party tomorrow and helping me get to bed early, etc., and even that I called him and asked him to come home now to have a quick dinner together and to help me with getting to bed before he continued his work stuff… and so he was almost an hour late to his own party… fortunately, as one neighbor said, everyone present knows my husband and understood that this all just came with the territory. 😛
Also, this was the first time I’ve ever had kids in my home for real. It was surprisingly easy and okay for me. I had prepped the space and only left out toys I was okay with anyone messing with, and prepared myself to clean a few specific things after the party. That made it easy for me to have all these kids climbing all over everything, even with shoes on, and going kind of wild. They were definitely somewhat tame as a whole, but the kids mostly just played and ran around the whole time, and everyone had a good time. And I was included in that. It was awesome.
Then, as my husband hung on with just the aviation folks at the end, my mom and I started prep for tomorrow’s party. It was a very good night.
Thank you, God. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Post-a-day 2026
hannah ananas 