A Happy Birthday Surprise!
What a wonderful moment when you get the opportunity to celebrate a wonderful person on her birthday. There is just such a joy for all, the moment the “birthday girl” enters the room to the collective shout “SURPRISE!”
Your Two Chums had a wonderful opportunity to do just that last week when we honored our dear chum, Connie, celebrating her 70th birthday with girlfriends, who happened to be both her family and friends, ranging in age from 11 years old to 94 years young.
A couple of months before her birthday, we had a chance to talk with Connie about what she would most like by way of celebrating her milestone 70th birthday. Her response, “What I would love more than anything is to get to celebrate with my girlfriends.” Connie and her dear husband of 49 years have been loyal and sweet friends to many over the years. So Harry insisted that their couple friends would have a chance to honor his sweet wife. He and their 5 children planned a wonderful party for Connie, which included a ceremony to renew their wedding vows as they enter their 50th year of marriage.
Connie was thrilled, and as far as she was concerned she was fully and happily celebrated. But Harry, along with Connie’s birthday group, referred to lovingly as The Sunshine Girls, had other ideas. Your Two Chums are a part of the 6 woman birthday group, The Sunshine Girls, who loves any excuse to have lunch together, share our joys and challenges, and just basically celebrate life:-)
(The Sunshine Girls who planned the party minus Connie and our dear chum, Kathy who couldn’t be with us for the party)
And Harry was there for the SURPRISE!
So we planned the party and hoped that we could actually pull off the surprise. With a myriad of details to attend to and at least 40+ people who knew what we were doing, we planned the party and held our breathe. We wanted everything to be about Connie, complete with the people and the things she loves. So we all wore black and white or red, Connie’s favorite. We all had hats, high heels and most wore pearls, Connie loves hats, heels and pearls. We had a Mediterranean menu, and Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert, along with little red boxes of See’s chocolates, Connie is Greek and loves Mediterranean food and chocolate. The centerpieces were black high heels draped with pearls and sitting on red satin covered boxes. Additional hats, all black, white and red, of course, were available for any who didn’t have a hat to match her outfit. The party favors for each lady were red Essie nail polish, and red lipstick, (Connie always wears red lipstick and nail polish) all wrapped up in either a black, white or red neck scarf.
Connie’s group gift was a book we had made entitled “Seventy Things We Love About Our Connie”. There was a different picture of a heart on each page and a quote about something each woman loves about Connie. To make it an even 70 things, the Sunshine Girls filled in some extra things and Harry added a page as well. We took turns reading our own entries from the book and then took a group photo that will be added to the back of the book as a remembrance of the day.
Connie truly deserved this celebration. She is a loyal friend; kind, thoughtful, generous to a fault with her resources and her time, a warm and gracious hostess to anyone who finds themselves in her beautiful home or around her table, and a loving wife, mother of 5 children, and grandmother of 14.
This party was more elaborate than most, admittedly, but that was partly because there was a group of us planning it, and a sweet husband helping to fund the lunch for his beloved wife. This party was for Connie, but the truth is, it was just as much for all of us who were there. We have all been recipients of the best gift of all, her loyal friendship over the years. Having the chance to honor her was a gift for each of us.
We can each of us, take time to honor those we love and celebrate their lives in big or small ways. You needn’t wait for a special birthday or anniversary. Any occasion is the right time to celebrate someone you love. Honoring those special people in our lives in the ways we can, shows them how much we care and fills our lives to overflowing with love, joy, and great abundance!
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Thank you so much for sharing this post and photos. What a delight to see how Connie was celebrated. She is so dear and it makes me happy to see how she was honored! I was especially touched by the fact that she and Harry renewed their vows. I trust Kathy P. Is well and she was just out of town.
Yes if Kathy had been in town nothing would have kept her away.:-)
What a sweet story! You’re some kind of special lady yourself, Lady Page! I clearly remember the surprise party that precious Robin threw to honor your 21st birthday, just 5 years ago.
You are such a dear chap! Yes! It was certainly an amazing surprise! …just a few years ago!