Turning 50

Tomorrow's the day for me.

But last Saturday evening.... Well, here's the email I sent out the next day to those that were a part of it:

A big and heartfelt Thank You for the surprise 50th Birthday Party last night. I was totally surprised and despite the fact some of you couldn't get into the house before I arrived, it was a big surprise!

Kathy and the rest of you pulled this off without any hints of what I was coming home to.

As far as I knew, we were going to our usual Saturday night church at 5pm, then out to eat at a nearby local restaurant. Towards the end of church, Kathy asked what time it was, and I opened my cellphone to check and saw I got a text from Rachael asking for the Garage Code about a 1/2 hour earlier.

Still I wasn't suspicious since, our attic has been a storage depot for some of our kids belongings and I thought perhaps she needed to get something.

When we left church and was in the parking lot waiting to leave, Kathy asked me if I had any ibuprofen, when I said no, she asked to swing by the house on our way out to the restaurant.

It wasn't until I turned the corner and pulled up in front of our house that I saw my son, Josh from Richmond; daughter Tiffany and her husband Jon from Indianapolis; and my former wife Karen with her husband Steve and niece Tarryn from Warsaw; along with our friend Joan Ice and my daughter Racheal and her fiance Brandon that it all clicked.

I'm not sure what happened next but I found myself in the living room with the door shut and a bunch of commotion going on in the Florida room, family room, and kitchen. I was about to sit down when the doorbell rang and our neighbor Rita was there and I directed her to to kitchen. The doorbell rang again and it was Bob & Sherrie Floyd.

Bob and I sat down and talked for a few minutes in the living room and then the folding door to the family room opened and Rachael invited me to my birthday party that everyone had worked so hard to assemble.

A short time later, a friend of mine that I met 29 years ago when we both worked at a radio station in Kokomo and his wife arrived. The infamous Dr. Dave and his wife Pat live a few blocks away from us and we've been meaning to get together and will do more in 2010.

As I glanced around and saw the decorations and the food, I knew that A LOT of planning had gone in to this event, and it was so much fun.

Thanks to all who where there whether in person, or in spirit and for the gifts, (I know I am impossible to buy for) along with the scrapbook, the poster, the music, the karaoke, the hugs, the cards, the conversations and I hope all of you had as much fun as I did.

Kathy asked me to get out the old airchecks of me on the radio from years ago, which I eventually found and it was fun watching my kids listening to the tapes of their Dad as a radio personality since it had been 10 to nearly 30 years ago that they were made.

Last month a friend of mine turned 68 and the week before we grabbed lunch a couple of time and I picked up the tab, as an early birthday present, "...in case you don't wake up on your birthday..." I told him! I see Kathy did the same by having this party nearly a week before I turn 50 on December 11th.

Again..... Thank you for everything and here's to the next 25 years....