The Big 4-0 was looming…all year, it felt like it was there hiding, waiting for me. And then suddenly, here it was. Four decades…that’s a long time! I was excited for it (I am one of those weird people who loves my birthday) and also at the same time, I do not feel 40. I felt more like a solid 28. Except do feel like I have gotten 40 wonderful years of experiences under my belt—travels, building friendships, growing family, making a career, and most of all, having fun. Anyway, back to mid-December…on the Saturday before my birthday, Mike had told me he had to teach all day, which was not at all unusual. So I made plans with Joy and we had the most luxurious, fantastic day together…at the spaaaaah:

We each got a sugar scrub and a massage. It was relaxing and child-free and wonderful. We even took showers their and blow dried our hair all fancy-like before we headed out. I am not sure how the ladies at the spa felt that we turned their facility into our sorority house, but we were tidy and I assume we tipped well!

Our next stop Del Ray for a delicious lunch of chicken and biscuits. It was so great to chat without little ones running around and without really being on the clock. Afterwards, Joy (who had picked me up) drove me home and came inside with me, probably because she had to go to the bathroom. As I punched in the door code, I said to her, “I hope my kids are sleeping so I can sneak upstairs and read my book in silence!” She laughed and I pushed the door open.

SURPRISE!!

I was met with a sea of faces in front of me, spilling out into my foyer, hallway, on the stairs, in the kitchen. Adults, kids, babies…I think my jaw hit the floor. I caught Mike’s smiling face in the crowd, caught his eye and admonished him, “You’re supposed to me teaching!” as I pulled him into a huge hug. Then I hugged everyone one by one…my aunt, uncle, cousins, nearby friends, and then gasping as I took in the faces of friends who had come from far, far away–from PA! NY! NJ! I couldn’t get over it.

After I had greeted each and every face and my face had begun hurting from smiling so much, I kept exclaiming how shocked I was. Apparently Mike had told people about this party MONTHS ago. Unreal!

Then I looked up the stairs and who was walking down them, calmly as could be?? My DAD. From FLORIDA. Who I had just seen for Vivi’s birthday! I gasped and ran to hug him. Who followed down the stairs as I hugged my Dad?? My MOM. I started to cry and was in such shock! I pulled her into a huge hug, still facing the stairs. I caught a tiny movement on the stairs and thought, no way…but it was–PRESTON! My six-year-old nephew was here, too, from FL! I was so thrilled my parents brought him with them! As I pulled him into a huge bear hug, I gasped again, as I saw MATT AND TOMMIE coming down the stairs. I could NOT believe it! I mean, Tommie had just had a baby 7 weeks prior…and I was going to see them all on Friday…but here they were, in my crowded house, for my birthday!

To top it all off, a few minutes later, Meg ushered me to the front door and had me open it…who was on my doorstep?? Why, NICOLE, of course…from LA! I was so surprised. One–because she flew across the country, and two, because she had done the exact same surprise only three weeks prior, for Vivi’s first birthday!

It was epic. Just amazing, really. I have never been so surprised and I kept reliving each moment over and over in my mind throughout the day, later than night, and the rest of the week. I felt so loved, and valued, and cherished by all of these people who went to so much expense and effort to come to see me. I don’t think I picked up my phone once, so I didn’t get any pictures…it was the kind of moment you just have to experience, not document. But friends did send me a few of these gems:

Here is the super secret crew hiding upstairs in my room before I arrived…even Caroline got in on the surprise part!

Great college friends–we have known each other for 22 years now!

A special shout out to Tommie for leaving her INFANT in FL for 24 hours to surprise me. Her sweet friend offered to watch Bryce and Tommie hopped on a plane to be here. Talk about a major honor.

Everyone sang to me and we had birthday cake, they all had champagne & drinks (mocktails for me!), Mike had ordered the Whitlow’s delicious turkey dinner spread, and I hopped from group to group chatting with people and thanking them for coming–still in shock. It was actually quite surreal.

We stayed up late in the night talking and watching all of my favorite people be together…and those favorite peoples’ kids all playing adorably well together; it was just the sweetest thing to take in. Preston and Julia played restaurant and Caroline chased after Hazel, trying to keep up with The Big Kids. They played so well together that it was after 11 pm when Ang and her family headed out.

At that point, we put our little monkeys to bed in their new matching jammies:

Caroline’s bed head sums up how we were all feeling by that point…happy, exhausted, and still wanting to keep the party going.

Tommie and Nicole flew out of town at the crack of dawn the next day, but Matt and Preston stayed later. Lee, Raul, and Roman came over int he morning to play and then the NY/NJ WAIFWYP contingent (+Meg of course) came over with Lost Dog for lunch and I got to chat with them , Matt, and my parents while my kids napped–it was so great to catch up with them since I hadn’t had much chance to do so the night before.

I took Matt and Preston to the airport in the mid-afternoon and gave them huge goodbye/see you soon hugs. By the time I got home, Matt had texted us to say that they had gotten stopped by TSA because Preston had kitchen shears in his backpack! We were all shocked and had a thousand questions until Kay Kay said casually, “oh yeah, I put those in there.” She had been “cleaning up” a craft project. Gotta love my family.

Kay Kay and Pa stayed until mid-afternoon on my actual birthday–December 17th. We spent the rest of the day after Matt left relaxing, then we had the Betancourts over for turkey dinner leftovers. That night, Vivi took TWO steps!! Right at the bottom of the stairs. It was amazing! On Monday, I had to go to work and my mom + Suelen took Caroline to preschool. That night, Mom made a delicious beef stew for dinner and we stayed up late making treats for Caroline’s teachers. On my birthday morning, Mom and I took Caroline to preschool and we headed to Bob & Edith’s Diner for French toast and bacon and delicious coffee. We had a great time chatting and taking our time till Mom said we had to get Caroline from school.  So we picked up our little lady and I took them both home, hugged my parents goodbye, and headed into work–where they had ice cream cake and 1980s trivia waiting for me. All it all, it was a GREAT day.

Fast forward to that Friday, December 20, when Mike and I pulled our rental car into the driveway of Uncle Bill’s Lazy K Ranch in Vero Beach, FL. As usual, it was decked out with beautiful signage and Christmas decor, including an impressive new sign welcoming us to the Kearney Reunion:

I was admiring that beauty when another sign caught my eye…it was MY NAME. On a SIGN. I said to Mike, “No one has ever put my name on a sign before!” Even better–it was also a tribute to Elise, who was celebrating her own big birthday–her 3-0!

I was floored. And so honored!! It was unreal. Also little did I know that this was the tip of the iceberg of birthday celebrations the family had up their sleeves…the next night, before the Gag Gift Festivities, Uncle Bill called Elise and me up to a special spot on his new patio and gave us seats of honor, beautiful tiaras, and birthday girl sashes. There were also two beautiful cakes! He had our moms say some nice words about us, let Mike and BJ give toasts to us, and then everyone ate cake.

The special treatment continued inside, where us birthday girls got to stay perched on our thrones. We were the guests of honor as the lights dimmed and a spotlight appeared at the top of the stairs…the next thing you know, ELVIS (Alan) appeared in the spotlight, singing “Viva Las Vegas” and dancing down the stairs right over to us. The crowd went wild…then next up was Louis, dressed up and singing “The Man With the Bag” as he danced down the stairs. It was a riot and I can’t believe he learned alllll the words to that song for this performance. Matt was next, with an amazingly terrible 1970s wig, a great costume, and perfect dance to Stayin’ Alive. And last but not least, kicking off the Gag Gift Exchange was BJ, dressed as a very believable Grinch, who slithered down the stairs to the Grinch song and terrified all the kiddies 😉 Uncle Bill gifted me and Elise with special Gag Gift Exchange powers–we got to select the gifts off the table for the people who got their gifts stolen! It was quite the honor and responsibility 🙂

Sunday brought the annual Mimosa Morning, where usually we all take turns toasting each other, our hosts, wishing each other good fortunes for the next year, etc. This year though, the birthday honors continued as Uncle Bill led us all into the living room where he had set up his projector screen. He and Chrissy had put together a beautiful tribute video to Elise in honor of her 30th b-day that was so cute and well done–her as an adorable little baby, a little girl, and then her on her wedding day, etc. It was so sweet.

Then Uncle Bill announced that I had two tributes for my birthday. The first began as dark screen then showed Matt sitting fireside, as the narrator for a birthday video he had assembled. It took me a few seconds to realize what he had done…basically get in touch with EVERY SINGLE PERSON I knew to have them say things about me in honor of my birthday! The second was a slideshow of pics from our childhood (with perfect music!) compiled by Louis. I was shocked–I could not BELIEVE they had done this. I knew it was a lot of work, but they were both so well done, so creative, so touching, and so me.

I could not imagine a more amazing birthday.